Breathe Again
by devotedreader
Summary: Amanda Brighte is a muggle-born witch with an ungrateful family and a hurtful past. She is alone in a brand new world. She quickly finds friendship in the Weasley twins, and discovers herself smitten with a certain jokester.
1. Amanda Brighte

**For those of you who followed the story when it was first written, please reread. You might find that many things have been changed. I've since grown in my writing.**

* * *

I awoke to the roaring sound of a train outside my window. I pulled the pillow over my head, attempting to drown out the incessant noise. I groaned when the wailing outside refused to cease, and stretched in the unfamiliar linens that surrounded me. They smelt like stale dust. I rolled over, thinking that I had more room on my right than I did, and proceeded to fall onto the hard wood floor. _Great,_ I thought, _is this how my day is going to start?_

For as long as I can remember, I always hated waking up in strange places. I sat up and threw my pillow at the window, where the once annoying train sounds were now in the far distance. I got up and stared at myself in the dusty wardrobe mirror on the far side of the room, attempting to remember where I was and what happened yesterday. As I continued to stare at the bags forming under my bright blue eyes, the events from yesterday came swarming back.

Gramps wasn't at all too happy with me. I don't remember much about my parents; I was muggle born, and by my fifth birthday they immediately deemed me a freak and gave me to the only person who could even remotely stand me: my Grandfather. He's an alright guy, he might drink more than he should, but as long as you don't cross him, he's pretty swell. The only problem is that he was never an "alright guy" to me. It was clear that he resented me; and it was because of that clarity that I resented him as well. Finally, during my fifth year at the Salem Institute for Wizards and Witches alike, we made our not-so-secret grudging feelings heard.

Then, about a week ago, a week before I would be resuming classes in Salem, he announced that I was leaving, for good. I would be going to England and resuming the rest of my classes, and life, there. And I couldn't have been happier. Last night, I said a very sarcastic good bye and Apparated out of there with all of my things and my cat, Felix. I never thought that I would be sixteen and on my own in an unfamiliar country. I smiled at myself in the dusty old mirror as I recalled the old three story Night Bus that came to my rescue in the streets of London and the rather desperate conductor, Stan, trying his hardest to flirt with me. It dropped my off here, at this little motel, the Leaky Cauldron.

I came out of my distracted flash back as Felix came trotting over to me out of the bathroom. He purred and rubbed himself against my shins. I smiled and picked him up, placing him on the unmade and unruly bed.

"Good idea, Felix. That's exactly what I need." I rubbed his belly, turned, grabbed my toiletries from my luggage, and made my way to the bathroom.

After a long, hot, and bubbly shower, I felt rejuvenated. Like I could concur the world and whatever the hell it brought my way. With my tan skin still tinged pink from the hot water, I proceeded to braid my long, wavy, blonde hair in a loose side braid, leaving my messy bangs in my face. I did my makeup and dressed in a pair of tight jeans, a white tank top, and old hightop sneakers. I couldn't help but smile at myself in the dusty old mirror. Just as I was wondering what the hell I was getting myself all ready for, a small tap at my window broke my stupor.

I opened my window and let in a barn owl two times bigger than my little black cat. He dropped a letter on the wood floor and perched itself on top of the desk chair on the other side of the room. I picked up the letter. It read: _The Leaky Cauldron, 3__rd__ Floor, Room 147._ I quickly turned it over and ripped it open.

_Dear Miss Amanda Brighte,_

_It has come to my attention that, given your situation, you are in need of a place to live and a place to learn. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry can provide you with both. It pleases me to say that you have been accepted into Hogwarts with open arms. I hope you will do us the honor of attending as one of our new 6__th__ year students. Arrive at the train station no later than 9 o'clock this morning; I'm sure you will have no problem arriving on time. _

I quickly looked at the clock. It read 8:45 am.

_Also do not fret about supplies, I took the liberty of preparing your books and robes for you here at school. Seeing as you are sort on time, I will leave you with this last request: The next time you find yourself at the Leaky Cauldron, do try the pancakes. They were the best I had in years._

_Sincerely, Your New Headmaster,_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

Also accompanying the letter was a train ticket for the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 ¾. I silently wondered to myself how the Headmaster knew so many things about me and my situation. It almost made me feel self conscious, which is definitely not like me at all. I quickly packed my things, grabbed Felix, and Apparated to the train station, not wanting to be late.

As soon as I arrived I gathered up my luggage and put it on one of the many carts at the busy entrance. Felix quickly jumped out of my arms and landed silently on top of the cart, clearly ready to go on this new trek. I took out my ticket and proceeded forward through the crowds of people. I started looking up and counting the numbered columns to make sure that I wouldn't lose track.

1, 2, 3, 4.

I could feel strange eyes on me as I kept walking. I can only imagine what all the muggles were thinking as they saw me walking with a cat just sitting on my luggage cart.

5, 6, 7.

I slipped on a puddle, but luckily caught myself before I fell on my butt in front of everyone. Felix eyed me with his light green eyes, clearly amused.

"Don't laugh at me." I whispered to him. I kept my voice down; all I needed was a complete stranger thinking I was the crazy cat lady. I kept walking.

8, 9… 10?

What? Something wasn't right. I looked back down to the number on the ticket. It clearly read 9 ¾, but the numbers on the columns skipped right on to ten. I was utterly confused. I retraced my steps and watched the numbers.

8, 9, 10.

Still the same. I was tempted to take out my wand and see if I could make it magically appear or something. Was I supposed to do that? I didn't have a clue. I stared down at the ticket again, and felt a tap on my shoulder. I jumped, a little startled. I turned abruptly, my hand in my jean pocket clutching at my wand. I found myself staring into a pair of brilliant brown eyes. The boy standing in front of me was tall and lean, with rich ginger air. He had a clever and sweet air about him, and as he smiled at me, my cheeks turned rosy. I smiled at him, but my voice was nowhere to be found. He had rendered me speechless. My eyes darted over his shoulder and found a guy that looked _exactly_ like him running our way with two luggage carts at hand. He had all the exactly features of the one standing directly in front of me, but the air about him was different. He exuded a clever and sweet feeling, but it was laced with, what was that, a hint of arrogance maybe?

Once the other joined me and what was clearly his twin, he elbowed him and they both grinned in my direction. My eyes went from one to the other, not sure which to focus on.

"No, you aren't seeing double-" The closer of the two said, inching forward.

"Although, we do get that a lot." the other twins said with a smile.

I cleared my throat and found my voice. I returned his smile. "Well, I expect that most people aren't used to seeing twins."

They grinned at me again and the closer of the two put his hand on my shoulder. "What an accent. You must be American, am I right?"

I just nodded.

The other twin stepped forward and bowed in a silly fashion. I couldn't help but laugh a bit. "I'm Fred-"

"And I'm George-" said the one with his hand on my shoulder.

"Weasley, of course." Fred said with a smile.

"At your service." George bowed as his brother just did and I laughed again.

"I'm Amanda Brighte, and I have a bit of a dilemma, but I don't expect the two of you could help me, could you?" I showed them the ticket and George smiled at me.

"Of course; we're heading there as well."

"Just follow our lead." Fred said as he took his own cart and ran straight towards the column between 9 and 10. I watched wide eyed as I expected him to crash into the bricks, but instead he went right through the wall.

George started laughing at my facial expression. "No, you're not hallucinating."

I looked up at him and he gave me a reassuring smile. It made the heat rush to my face as before.

"Now go and aim for the middle and just run. Don't doubt yourself." I nodded and took a deep breath.

I ran straight towards the wall and through the other side. Fred greated me with another grin and George came through right behind me. I stared in awe at the grand train and all the bustling witches and wizards before me.

"I don't think they have stuff like this in the states." I said.

George put his arm around me and started leading me toward the train.

"Come on, George you guys can snog later!" Fred yelled as he ran past us and boarded the train as the whistle blew, signaling the time for departure. I looked up at George and saw his cheeks tinged ever so slightly with pink. I elbowed him in the side with a smile as we began running after his brother, Felix at our heals.

* * *

**Please, please, please review! Tell me whether you like the new and improved Amanda Brighte and her story :]**


	2. Lemon Drops

**Chapter 2 of the new Remodeled "Breathe Again." Tell me what you think! :]**

* * *

Third Person POV.

Dumbledore peered into his looking glass with curious eyes. The picture was of the new transfer student from the states, Amanda Brighte, sitting with the well known Weasley twins. He smiled to himself as he saw George put a hand on her knee. She had a story that he knew well, and he looked forward to meeting her. He turned his attention to Professor McGonagall, who was standing adjacent to his desk in the room.

"Minerva," He addressed her, "Please meet Miss Brighte as she exits the Hogwarts Express and bring her here straight away." She nodded and headed out of the room.

Dumbledore turned his attention back to his looking glass as now the mood seemed to change, and the three were exchanging smiles and laughter. The scene made his eyes twinkle with intuition. It was plain to him what House she would be sorted into. He looked down to the black book in his hands. It had a gold binding on it that would never lose its shine. He placed the book on his desk and swiftly took out his wand. Without muttering a sound, he pointed his wand to the book and with a _pop!_ It was gone.

* * *

Amanda's POV.

The train ride with the twins was the best time that I had since I arrived in London. They asked me the generic questions about the states, _How is it there? What's it like? How different is it?_, and I obliged every question as they intently listened. Soon, we reached the topic of my family and I kind of shied away from talking about it. I only told them the basics, but it was clear that they wanted to know more. We made a deal that when I was ready to talk about my _lovely_ family, I would.

As we stepped off the train into the night air, I immediately felt out of place. Everyone, including Fred and George, were wearing their school robes. Me, well, I was still in my white tank top and jeans. The night air was more frigid than I expected it to be; I couldn't stop myself from shivering. The twins noticed this and George hugged me from behind to keep me warm, while Fred stepped in front of me to block the wind.

"Th-thanks guys." I said with my teeth chattering. We stood there for a little while longer, and I realized someone was heading towards us through the mass of students.

"Ah. Miss Brighte, Professor Dumbledore has requested to see you straight away." She stated.

I felt George give me one last quick squeeze and let go. It suddenly got a lot colder.

"Please, just call me Amanda." She nodded as I turned to face my friends.

"I'll see you guys in a little bit."

"Don't give them too much of a hard time." Fred said giving me his devilish grin.

I had expected George to say something witty, but instead he just smiled at me. I turned to walk away with the woman to Professor Dumbledore's office.

"I almost forgot to introduce myself. I'm Professor McGonagall; I am the Transfiguration teacher here at Hogwarts. I do hope that you enjoy your stay here."

I smiled up at her. "Yeah, me too."

After a long carriage ride, we reached the school. It was quite impressive; every single inch of the walls inside were covered with moving pictures. The people in them greeted me and welcomed me to Hogwarts. Soon, after a bit of walking, we stopped in front of a statue.

"Lemon Drops." muttered Professor McGonagall.

I gave her a sideways glance and she just smiled at me. The statue moved aside to reveal a winding stone staircase.

"You can go up on your own dear." I nodded to her and started up the stairs.

It was a rather narrow passage, but not too claustrophobic. On my way up, I wondered what I was being summoned for. I hoped I wasn't already in trouble, but then I thought I hadn't had a chance to do anything, so I should be fine. I opened the door at the end of the stairs and entered a vast room. I willed myself not to look around the room rudely as I saw the Headmaster sitting behind a desk before me. He smiled genuinely at me and I returned it. He was pretty old; I'm not going to lie. His beard was longer than I had ever seen, and his hair was a shiny silvery white. He stood up from his desk and gestured for me to sit in the guest chair. I nodded and sat down.

"Miss Brighte, it is my pleasure to Welcome you to Hogwarts." His eyes twinkled with genuine emotion. "Here at Hogwarts, it is a tradition for first years to be placed in a House based on your personality. Your House will be your home here; your family." He looked away from me and walked towards the far right wall, picking up a rather dingy looking hat. "There are four different Houses that you could be placed in." He began walking back in my direction. "Gryffindor, for the brave; Hufflepuff, for the strong willed; Ravenclaw, for the intelligent; and Slytherin, for the cunning. This hat will help make the final decision on which House you belong in. And seeing as you are definitely _not_ a first year, I thought it would be best to sort you here before the others."

I smiled up at him. "That was very considerate of you."

He placed the hat on my head, and at first I was a bit skeptical of how this would help sort me into a House. But then, it began to talk… in my head.

_"My, my. What an incredible mind. Brighte is it? Well, you do have a very bright mind, to be sure. Ravenclaw could use a smart and clever mind such as yours."_

I couldn't help grinning to myself; I always knew that I was intelligent, even if my Gramps had always insisted otherwise.

_"Yes, you are quite intelligent indeed. But you also have a kind and brave heart. You are selfless and always put others before yourself; Gryffindor could benefit from this quality in you. Hmmm… but where to put you? Where to put you? Alright, it must be… Gryffindor!"_

I grinned widely as Professor Dumbledore removed the hat from my head. "Gryffindor," he began, "will be in for a treat." He turned and returned the hat to its post. He handed me robes adorn with the Gryffindor crest. He led me to a room that I could change in, and promised to have my other close sent to my chambers.

Dumbledore assisted me to the Great Hall, where all the other students were waiting for us. The thought of having the whole school waiting on my arrival was a little more than nerve racking. I started biting the inside of my lip. The Professor looked sideways at me, sensing my nervousness.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." His eyes had that twinkle in them again and it almost made me believe it.

I stopped my nervous habit and sighed.

Once I could see the Great Hall doors, my heart beat quickened and I took a deep breath. Professor Dumbledore gave me one last reassuring smile before he pushed open the doors. The once chatty Hall became silent and almost all heads turned to us. I bit the inside of my lip.

"Students, I am very proud to announce that we have a new sixth year joining us from the United States, Miss Amanda Brighte."

I heard the twins howl and I flushed red. Dumbledore chuckled to himself before continuing.

"It seems you already have a fan club." He turned and smiled at me, then addressed the Hall once more. "I hope you all welcome her with open arms. Gryffindor, please great your new House mate!"

The entirety of the table stood and cheered for me as I made my way over to them. I quickly made my way over to the two tall red heads standing up and sat down in between them. George greeted me with a hug that made my stomach do a gymnastics routine, while Fred ruffled my hair.

I saw George grin devilishly at his brother. "Pay up, mate."

George extended a hand and Fred reluctantly dropped seven sickles in his hand. "A bet's a bet." Fred sighed.

I gave George a grin. "You bet on what House I'd get in?"

He nodded as he counted the sickles in his hand. "I knew all along that you were Gryffindor material, or at least Ravenclaw worthy, but Fred had his doubts."

"I said there was a chance that you would get into Hufflepuff. That's all."

I looked at Fred, feigning offended. "You thought I would end up in a House with that name?"

Both of them started laughing and I took this opportunity to steal a sickle out of George's hand.

"Hey!" He attempted to reach for the sickle in my hand, but I thought fast and dropped it down my shirt. George's eyebrows shot up and Fred started laughing. I stuck my tongue out at George and he smirked.

"Forbidden places have often been where I find myself the most. Are you daring me to try and get it?" He said, doing his best to sound suggestive.

I laughed and gave him a playfully disgusted look. "You venture down my shirt and you'll end up missing an arm."

He shot me a huge grin as someone across the table cleared their throat. I looked across the table to three girls with mixed expressions on their faces. I felt my face grow hot, as I had forgotten there were other people around.

"How rude of me," Fred said as he gestured towards the girls, "this is Amanda-"

"We met her on the way to Hogwarts." George finished with a smile that I gladly returned.

"Amanda, this is Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson." Fred introduced them and I gave them a warm smile.

Katie Bell, who I later found out was two years younger, had a medium complection and long brown hair. Her brown eyes were staring down the table at the first years currently being sorted. Alicia Spinnet had long blonde hair, longer than mine anyway, with bangs that reached her eyebrows. Her hazel eyes offered me a comforting look. Angelina Johnson was a very pretty girl. Her dark skin was just a shade lighter than her hair and eyes. She looked up and smiled at me immediately.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Amanda." Angelina extended a hand towards me and I shook it. The other girls however, weren't as welcoming. Alicia sent me a smile, but didn't offer any words. Katie didn't even look at me. It made me feel a little odd, but Fred nudged me and gave me a look that said _just forget it_. I smiled and nodded. Fred proceeded to introduce me to his many siblings, not including George. I started to feel a little overwhelmed with new names and faces.

Dumbledore started talking up at the front of the Great Hall, listing off forbidden objects and places to be in the castle. I felt a tug on the back of my robe and I turned to see who it was. A boy at the Slytherin table was looking me over. He was extremely attractive and had long dark chocolate brown hair that fell into his pale green eyes. He grinned in a confident manner at me. I gave him a wary look.

"Amanda, right?" his voice was smooth and just the right tone for his face. "How lovely." He dragged out the last word in a provocative manner.

George had noticed that my attention was elsewhere and turned curiously at me. I looked on at the anonymous boy, not really knowing how to respond.

He noticed this and extended his hand to me. "Daniel Akosta, pleased to meet your acquaintance."

Before I could decide whether I wanted to shake hands with him, George butt in. "What are you playing at, Akosta?"

Daniel laughed internally and sneered in George's direction. "This doesn't concern you Weasel."

I narrowed my eyes at the Slytherin and took over the conversation before George could say anything. "What concerns me, concerns him. And I don't know who you think you are, prick."

He seemed taken aback by me sticking up for George and raised his eyebrows at me. "My, you have a temper." He relaxed his expression and looked me over again. I felt strangely violated. "I could live with that." he said and winked at me.

Several of the Slytherins around him started laughing. I was absolutely disgusted and I let my face show it. I felt George put a hand on my shoulder; I could tell he was angry.

"You can't look at her like that. She's not a peice of meat."

Daniel looked at him incredulously. "And what would you know about that, Weasley? I bet you couldn't get a decent shag even if you tried."

This was getting out of hand, and I was getting angrier and more offended by the minute. Who did this guy think he was, talking to George like that?

"Like you have any room to talk," I interjected, "I bet your crappy attitude gets in the way of you getting anything. In fact, I bet you're still a virgin. So shut your mouth before I do it for you."

I turned around in my seat before he could say anything else. I looked up at George and gave him a small smile. All of a sudden the whole Great Hall was yelling. Dumbledore had stated that Quidditch was cancelled this year, and this did not settle well with the students at all; especially not the Gryffindor table. I knew a few people back in the states that played Quidditch, but I had never gotten a chance to play it myself. I wondered what it was like. Soon, it was announced that the Triwizard Tournament was to be held at Hogwarts this year. Fred and George were overjoyed at this discovery. They saw it as easy money. I tried to reason with them; I told them of the dangers and death that were ridden in the Tournaments history. This only made them more anxious to enter. But Dumbledore put a damper on their plans when he said no one under the age of seventeen would be able to enter. I had to cover the twins' mouths with my hands to get them to shut up.

Angelina, me, and the twins ended up walking back to the Gryffindor common room together; the boys ranting off ways of getting around the age limit. Me and Angelina just looked at each other and rolled our eyes. It seemed I would get along well with her. We ended up sharing the same room, which was good. I wasn't going to have to be burdened with meeting more new people today. My brain was already exploding with so many new faces. I didn't even bother getting undressed before I plopped myself down onto my bed and curled up right next to Felix. It had been such a long and tiresome day, that I wished Angelina a good night and closed my curtains right then and there. I didn't even notice the black book with the gold binding sitting on my luggage.

* * *

**Thanks for reading, the revamped Chapter 3 should be up within the next couple of days. Review Away! :D**


	3. Fireworks and Pancakes

**And Chapter Three comes to you, freshly edited and new. Gotta love that new chapter smell :p**

* * *

I happened to wake up unreasonably early the next morning. I expected that it had something to do with nerves of my first day, but I don't think I would ever admit to that out loud. I was done getting ready within a matter of minutes, and examined myself in the mirror. At my old school, we didn't have to wear uniforms and I felt sort of weird. I'm not usually a skirts and dresses type of girl, bit the school uniform required it and it was kind of cute if I pulled the skirt up a little more so it wasn't past my knees. I rolled up the sleeves of my white button down and kept the color a tad loose where my tie was concerned. I smiled at myself triumphantly; I had managed to give the uniform some originality after all.

I silently walked over to the door, trying not to wake anyone any earlier than I needed to. It was then that I noticed the peculiar book. I opened it. It was addressed to me, but was not signed by anyone. I figured it would make a good enough book to take notes in for my classes, so I scooped it up and placed it in my bag. I made my way down the staircase to the common room. It was empty, just as I expected it to be. The fireplace was smoldering like it had just been put out and it gave the room a nice scent. I sat down in what looked like the most comfortable chair in the room, right next to a very homey looking bookshelf.

After sitting with my feet hanging over one of the armrests for about ten minutes or so, other students started descending the stairs. They were mostly in years younger than me, but I still greeted their stares with a smile. I even recognized one to be the twins sister, Ginny I think her name was. I leaned my head against the back of the chair and sighed, I was starting to feel tired waiting around for nothing. I began wondering how long Fred and George were going to take to wake up. Just then, a bright firework flew down from the top of the stairs and crashed into the bookcase to the side of me. I stood up on the cushion to my chair, extending my wand, as all the books flew out and the firework exploded with a loud _crack!_

Two ginger haired boys came bounding down to the common room in a hurry.

"George, look what you did! I told you to be careful with that box!" Fred exclaimed and hit George in the back of the head with his hand.

I was too flustered to laugh at the sight. George was staring with wide eyes at the exploded bookcase and the many books and loose pages that scattered the common room, many of which were still floating to the floor. They both turned their attention to me and busted out with laughter. I brought my eyebrows together in confusion and anger. Fred dropped to the ground and George held his knees with his hands as they continued laughing. I expected that my hair was a mess, considering I didn't bother to do anything with it at all this morning, but that was it. I knew that I wasn't covered in soot like the rest of the room. I got down from atop the chair and put my hands on my hips.

"What's so funny? I almost get blown to a million pieces because of you, and you're laughing?" I glared at them.

George helped Fred up off the floor and they both grinned at me.

"Trust me. If you saw the way you looked on that chair you would have laughed too." Fred said slyly.

I huffed, crossed my arms, and turned to leave. George's eyebrows shot up and he quickly closed the space between us by stepping in front of me. I walked right into him.

"Hey! Hey, don't walk off. I'm sorry I scared you to bits, but that's no reason to give_ Fred _the cold shoulder." He melted my anger, I couldn't help but let out a laugh. He was pretending that he wasn't in trouble too.

I poked his chest. "You're in trouble too." I smiled up at him. It was then that I noticed how tall he was. I didn't consider myself short in the least, but they sure made me feel like it. I only came up to just below George's nose. He had at least four or five inches on my five feet nine inches.

He met my grin with a bigger one. "I beg to differ; I got you to smile." He winked. "I think I'm off the hook."

My cheeks turned pink as I scoffed. His eyes told me that he knew he had won. Fred cleared his throat loudly.

"Um, you two can flirt later. I think we should get out of here before McGonagall pins this on us." He strolled past us and we followed at his heals.

"But it is your fault." I pointed out.

Fred turned slightly with a grin. "Technically, it was George's fault. He's the one that dropped the box."

George furrowed his brow. "Yeah, cause you hit my shoulder."

I turned to them, interrupting their fighting. "Why do you have fireworks anyway?"

The twins forgot their problem and grinned at me. "Why, for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes of course!"

"What?" I asked, not knowing what they were talking about.

"You see, were starting up this new business-" Fred started to say.

"It's a whole bunch of practical jokes and stuff." George finished.

"But our funding has been cut short." Fred slowed and walked in step with me and George.

"But we'll get the money once we win the Triwizard Tournament, aye Fred?"

Their frowns quickly turned into smiles at this statement. I rolled my eyes.

"I told you, it's not going to work."

I was caught off guard by Fred putting his arm around me. He looked me in the eyes with a completely straight face and said, "You doubt the Weasley twins?"

I smiled and pushed him off me as George opened the door. "When it's you two versus Dumbledore, yes I doubt you."

George put a hand over his heart with a slight grin on his face. "Ouch, that hurt 'manda."

I stuck my tongue out at him as I sat down where I sat last night. George sat to my right and Fred sat across the table from us. I piled some pancakes on my plate and got a surprised look from both of them.

"What? I'm hungry and besides, pancakes are my favorite." I said defensively, nitting my eyebrows together. George laughed at the stack of pancakes on my plate.

"I just can't see you eating all that." He smirked as he reached for the syrup before Fred got his hands on it. I eyed him as he used the syrup not so sparingly.

"Hey!" I took the bottle from him. "Save some for the rest of us."

Angelina started laughing as she sat down next to Fred. "Its breakfast and you are already fighting?"

I passed the syrup to Fred and gave her a small guilty smile. "We're not fighting."

"Oh really?" She raised an eyebrow at me. George gave her his classic I-didn't-do-anything-wrong look. I decided to change the subject.

"So how do we know what classes we have?" I asked with a mouth full of pancakes.

Fred shot me a look of concern. "It's not very lady like to speak with your mouth full."

I rolled my eyes and was about to give him another example of something else not lady like, but George elbowed my side.

"McGonagall is giving out our time tables now." Angelina said. I looked around George to see Professor McGonagall coming down our row of kids with schedules in hand.

I smiled as I swallowed another bit of pancakes. "The suspense is killing me."

"Does that mean that one of us gets to administer mouth to mouth?" Fred asked as he gave George a knowing look and smiled devilishly. George's face tinged pink as he glared at his brother.

I rolled my eyes. "You two really are hopeless flirts aren't you?"

They both started laughing, while Angelina smiled at me and said, "You bring out the best in them all right."

"Gee. I feel honored." I said sarcastically as McGonagall made her way over to our group.

"You should." George said between bites. "It's not every day that you get flattered by the Weasley twins."

I couldn't help but laugh at his smugness. "Oh, you're modest."

McGonagall smiled to herself as she set down our schedules in the middle of us. "Fred and George don't have the best reputation in the modesty department."

I smiled up at her as she passed onto the next group of kids. Angelina handed me my time table and I read it over.

"I'm stuck with Potion's first period?" George exclaimed. "Great!" He threw his hands up in the air, over exaggerating his disappointment.

I looked at him confused. "What's so bad about Potion's? I have it first too. I enjoy Potions."

He laughed a little. "Well, you won't here. Snape is awful."

Fred grinned across the table. "I don't have to take it." He said in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah, 'cause I did better then you on my OWLS. So I have to take it." George felt my confused gaze and turned to me with an I'll-explain-later look.

* * *

George and I ran into Potions class just in time. We were exactly five seconds before the tardy bell and we were both out of breath. A few of the students laughed and some looked at me with questions in their eyes. There were lots of whispering about the room wondering why we were late, and people made some rather graphic and inappropriate assumptions. I shook my head at the ridiculous thoughts going about the room. We were still standing right inside the doorway when Snape addressed us.

"Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Mr. Weasley. Miss Brighte, I do hope that you are making the right choice in friends, we wouldn't want your grade to falter due to being late, now would we?" His sneer punctuated the sentence well as he turned his back to us. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Well, don't just stand there. Find a seat!" He yelled.

I gave George an incredulous look and we made our way to the one table, towards the left of the class, that had two seats next to each other. The desks were in four 'U' shaped sections with six students to a 'U'. I quickly sat and dropped my bag loudly onto the floor. George leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I told you so." I cracked a sarcastic smile at him and took out my Potions book.

"Open your books to page four and start taking notes on as many potions as you can get to. These notes will be a grade." Snape said sourly as he made his way to his desk in the front of the room. Several people groaned, as did I. I flipped open my book, grabbed my new mysterious notebook, and got a great idea. I leaned over to George and whispered, "Why don't I do the even numbers and you do the odds and we'll copy each other later."

He grinned at me and winked. "Wow, you're smart too? I wish I thought of that."

I giggled silently and elbowed his side playfully.

"Well, well. I think the Weasel has a crush." I looked over to see Daniel Akosta eyeing me from across our 'U'. He was talking to some other Slytherin guy next to him.

"Get bent Akosta." I heard George say sourly with a glare his way, but I could also see a hint of pink on his cheeks.

"Don't play his game George." I whispered. "He wants to get a rise out of you, don't give it to him." He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and nodded slightly.

"Aw, he's an obedient little Weasel isn't he Amanda?" I looked at him like he was crazy. "But, it's a pity that you chose to stoop that low to get some, even when you know you don't have to." He winked at me.

"I think I just threw up a little." I stated and narrowed my eyes at him before I resumed my note taking.

George chuckled next to me. "This is going to be a long year if I have to stare at his face every morning."

"Definitely." I agreed with a smile.

* * *

The rest of the day went by pretty fast. I felt like all I had to do was blink and then it was dinner time. And those mountains of mashed potatoes had my name written all over them. I laid in my bed, already in my pajamas, letting the food settle in my stomach. Felix jumped up onto my bed and curled up next to me. Angelina was just getting out of the bathroom. I wished her good night, and she shut off the light. The last thought I had was of the texture of my pillow against my cheek.

* * *

**Loyal readers, don't forget to review! Give me some new ideas for future chapters?**


	4. Not Ready

**Yay, first official new Chapter. Hot off the press.**

* * *

"Open your minds to the crystal ball in front of you."

_Tick tock. Tick tock. _

"Your mind isn't open enough, wider, wider!"

_Tick tock. Tick tock._

_Ring!_

I quickly grabbed up my books and bolted out of my last class of the day, Divinations. I don't understand how some people can actually like that class. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of being able to see the future and all, but the wacky teacher just takes all the fun out of learning about it. She's always talking constantly and always bumping into things and knocking stuff down. I'd consider it entertainment more than learning. Thankfully I didn't have to go through the torture alone. Alicia was in my Divinations class, and that brought us closer together. I wouldn't call us friends just yet, but we were definitely going down that road steadily.

It was Friday, I had lasted an entire week at this new school. I felt rather proud of myself as Alicia and I walked in step with each other. We were headed to the Great Hall for dinner. I was particularly famished tonight. I looked to my side and smiled at her.

"You know, if we don't get there soon you might have to carry me down these stairs. I'm so hungry!" I threw my hands up in a dramatic way.

She started laughing. "You better not collapse; I'm far too starved myself to be bothered with picking you up."

I scoffed and sent her a fabricated look of shock. "You would just leave me there? What if the creep Akosta came out of nowhere and tried to do something to me!"

She kept laughing and just shrugged. I elbowed her side and shook my head, smiling.

We entered the Great Hall with growling stomachs. My eyes immediately scanned the tables for people I knew. Fred and Angelina were having a heated conversation. Katie Bell was sitting on Fred's opposite side talking down the table with another girl that I didn't recognize. I never understood why she would always sit with us, but then pay us no attention at all. If she wanted to talk to someone over there, why not sit over there? I sighed and made a point to focus my gaze elsewhere. Gratefully, my eyes came in contact with George's bright brown ones and he patted the seat next to him with a smile playing on his lips. I couldn't help but be happy as I walked down the row between the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables. As I sat down, Angelina and Fred stopped midsentence to greet me and Alicia, and then resumed fighting. I laughed at them.

"What did Fred do that's making you so fumed Ang?" I asked as I spooned some macaroni noodles onto my plate.

"We're talking Quidditch." Angelina said in a stressed tone.

"She thinks she should wake up bright and early to practice when there isn't even Quidditch this year!" Fred exclaimed.

"Oh stop complaining." I took ate a forkful of noodles before continuing. "Let Ang work herself until she can't take it anymore, if that's what she really wants to do." I took another bite of my food. Fred didn't seem pleased that I was taking Angelina's side, but before he could argue anymore on the subject George spoke up. I did think he was being rather quiet.

"Hey, you know what I just realized mate?" He asked Fred, slinging his arm around my shoulders in the process. "Amanda here doesn't seem to have a problem telling us apart like most other people."

Fred's face seemed thoughtful, and then contorted into a sly smirk. "I think you have a point George. Hell, even Angelina sometimes gets it wrong." He playfully referred to her again, which only made her roll her eyes. Soon, Angelina started to calm down and paid more attention to the conversation forming.

"Why? Am I not supposed to be able to do that?" I asked curiously, picking at my noodles. I was still mildly aware of George's arm around me and I felt a tug in my stomach.

"Well, I suppose it is more convenient for us." George stated, looking down at his plate.

"Yeah, but now we can't switch places with each other to fool you." Fred had a glum look on his face as he went back to eating. I giggled at the thought of them actually attempting that, but I didn't put it past them one bit. Angelina leaned forward a tad to examine the twins. Fred looked a bit uncomfortable and gave George a wary look.

"I don't see how you do it..." Angelina exclaimed with a confused look. "They're exactly identical! Even they're freckles are in the same spot."

I rolled my eyes at how ridiculous her logic was. "Ang, you're only looking at they're _faces_." I stressed the last word purposefully. She looked at me like I had three heads and then started blushing profusely. The twins started laughing and George's arm felt a little tenser. I finally caught on.

"No, no! Not like that. God, get your heads out of the gutter for one second." I rolled my eyes at them. "You're missing the simple details. Like, um. Look-" I pointed a finger to the top of George's head. "George parts his hair closer to the right side while Fred parts his closer to the left. Um, Fred can talk on and on for ages about almost anything, but George actually needs an engaging topic. Um, they both right with the same hand, but the way they hold their quills are different. George can hold a grudge longer than Fred, which proves that they don't necessarily think alike." I let out a little chuckle. "And don't even get me started on their personality differences." I shook my head as I said the last sentence. I placed another bit of noodles in my mouth and looked up to the others. They were all staring at me with shocked eyes.

"What?" I asked simply.

George removed his arm from my shoulders to ruffle my hair up. "We just didn't realize how observant you are."

I gave him a sideways look and realized both twins had a pink sheen to their faces. "Well, I can't help it if everyone else only sees the similarities 'cause you two are twins."

I smiled at them and went back to eating, a little embarrassed that all eyes were still on me.

* * *

When McGonagall dismissed us from dinner, we took our sweet time getting back to the common room. Katie separated from us (like always), which left the five of us to shuffle our feet the whole way there. I walked in between the two ginger haired twins and playfully locked arms with them, humming a tune.

"I can't believe it's already Friday." Alicia said with a yawn to punctuate her sentence.

I looked around George at Alicia. "You're already tired? Come on, its Friday! You're supposed to stay up late and tell ghost stories or something."

"Ghost stories?" Fred inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you know what I mean." I said, a little embarrassed, "Friday nights are supposed to be a night of fun, right?"

* * *

Once we were back in the common room, Angelina and Alicia went up to the girls' dorm. Fred claimed that Lee, one of the boys that the twins shared a room with, had requested to see him so he quickly went up to their dorm. I looked around the room and noticed that there were several kids at the tables in the back working on what appeared to be homework. I groaned loudly and placed a hand over my face in frustration.

"I totally forgot about my stupid homework." I threw myself on the common room couch, not caring that I wasn't leaving any room for anyone else to sit. My bag wasn't so nicely rested on the coffee table next to me. I sighed and all of a sudden I felt heaviness on my abdomen. I couldn't help but smile once I realize what, or who, it was.

"George get off! You're crushing me!" I yelled playfully.

He grinned down at me. "Not a chance, you're fine. Besides, it's not like you left enough room for me to sit anywhere else." He started taking his books out his bag.

"There's an arm chair over there and you can sit on the cushions on the floor. Besides, it's Friday. Don't you usually like waiting until last minute?"

He shook his head in a knowing manner, like he assumed I would say that. "I came to the conclusion that I could be doing something way better with my time on Sunday afternoon."

"Well, you can do your homework somewhere else. Get your bony arse off of me." I tried my best to push him off, but not being able to sit up didn't help much.

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Please, why would I do that when you are clearly enjoying it too much? It would be rude of me." He smiled flirtatiously down at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him, but couldn't stop my cheeks from turning pink.

"I rest my case." He said and winked at me.

I huffed and crossed my arms across my chest. "If you don't get up, then I can't help you with your Defense Against the Dark Arts homework that I _know_ you desperately need help with." I stated. Truthfully, I didn't know if I could help him, even if it was one of the few classes that I chose to pay attention in. Moody, our new teacher in that subject, had made it painfully obvious that he didn't care how much he taught us on a subject, he would still assign the homework anyway.

George looked like he was thinking it over, and realized he was defeated. He got up a tiny bit for me to wiggle out from under him. I brought my legs to me, sitting criss cross with my back against the arm rest. I took out my book and put it in my lap, along with my new notebook for writing. I leaned my head against the back of the couch, pretending to read. I had my Defense Against the Dark Arts book open, and I was looking at the words, but none of it was sinking in. After reading the same sentence three times, I gave up and looked up at George. He was sitting with his book in his lap, bent over it, with his red hair falling in his face. I couldn't help but smile, he looked like he was really intently trying to understand the material. Finally, he must have felt my eyes on him, because he turned and met my gaze. I didn't look away, even though I could feel the color returning to my face. I reached forward and held his hand in mine.

"This is kind of nice." I said staring at his fingers.

"Yeah, being alone with me isn't all too bad is it?" I could hear the smile in his words.

I smiled too, "No, it's not." I looked up at him and our eyes locked. I felt my heart beat quicken and our hands become clammy. What was happening? My skin was crawling and my breathing became uneven. I looked away and let go of him. I wasn't ready for this.

"I, um, I'm kind of tired. This studying is getting nowhere." I closed my book and started to pack my things away in my bag, trying not to look at him. My cheeks were still getting ever increasingly redder. "I think I'm going to go to bed."

We both stood at the same time. He smiled at me, and I melted. I couldn't _not_ smile back. He wrapped his arms around me, and I buried my head in his chest. This hug, it held meaning; I could hear it in his heart beat. I almost didn't want to let go, but I forced myself to. I smiled at him one last time, and forced myself up the stairs.

_You're not ready for this Amanda,_ I scolded myself,_ What are you thinking?_

* * *

**Ooo, almost a cliffhanger? Tell me what you think! :]**


	5. The Black Notebook

**And the plot thickens.**

* * *

Third person POV.

George took his time putting his books away in his bag. He wasn't too sure what to think about the moment that he and Amanda just had together. Was the way she reacted a bad sign? She seemed comfortable enough before their eyes locked on each other. He had planned for something to happen during their moment alone together, but that definitely wasn't it. He shook his head in confusion as he made his way back to the room he and his brother shared. As George entered the room, Fred stared at his brother expectantly.

"So, how'd it go mate?" Fred asked with a sly expression. He playfully put the back side of his hand to his forehead and flopped over on his bed. "Is she madly in love?" There was laughter in his voice.

When George didn't say anything and just put his bag down on the floor, his twin sat up, all the humor gone out of his face. "You did make a move, didn't you?"

George threw himself on to his bed and sighed loudly. "I didn't need to. She did. It was fine—more than fine."

Fred was confused. "Then what happened? Was it you?"

"No, no! I thought—it was perfect." He whispered that last part. "But it was like she got scared. She seconded guessed herself, and then a minute later she was on her way upstairs." George rubbed his face with his hands and sat up. Fred came over and patted his brother on the shoulder.

"She'll come around. She'll realize that you're the best bloke out there, mate."

George turned and raised an eyebrow at his brother.

"What?" Fred asked, "Can't a guy help out his brother?" He smiled.

George rolled his eyes and kicked Fred off of his bed. "I'm gonna sleep now." He said as he shut his shades.

* * *

Amanda's POV.

I laid in my bed awake for a long while. I tossed and turned and tried to sleep, but my mind would not allow it. How could I have been so ridiculous? George probably thought I was crazy. One minute holding his hand, the next minute running upstairs like a child. A damn child. But I had to stop myself. I had to make sure that, if I did give George a chance, it was because I wanted it and I was ready. Hell, I've only known Fred and George for a week at most. I wasn't ready. I hardly knew him!

I sighed and looked at the clock by my bed. 3:14 am. Here I am rationalizing my actions at three o'clock in the morning, instead of sleeping like a normal person. I turned over once more and pulled the covers over my head. I was determined to sleep, even if it killed me.

* * *

For the next couple months, George didn't bring up that night, which I was grateful for. I had made up my mind that I _did_ have some sort of feelings for him, but I definitely wasn't prepared for anything to stem from my feelings yet. And I think George knew that, or at least, I hoped that he did. We were still very good friends. We still joked around and had fun. We helped each other out with homework and other school stuff. Nothing was really awkward between us at all. But every now and then, I would catch Fred staring at us with expectation in his eyes, as if he was waiting for us to do something.

It was late November now. I could taste the ice in the air. There was a light coating of snow on the ground, just enough to crunch under my boots in between classes. All of the eligible seventeen year olds from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons had arrived a month prior. The Goblet of Fire had been out and available for all seventeen and older students to put forth their names for about a month now. Fred and George had already tried to cheat Dumbledore's age limit by taking a silly potion to make them a few months older. It did no good. I ended up escorting them to the infirmary when they started growing white beards. I made sure that I would never let them live that down. I also managed to convince them that they would find another way to make money for their dream joke shop. They agreed, saying that their brilliant minds would come up with something eventually.

Tonight was the night, though. Tonight was the night that the Triwizard Champions would be named. The suspense was clearly getting to everyone. Students were loitering longer in the hall ways between classes, they were talking louder and more animatedly in classes; it was clear that no one was paying attention. Snape even got on to the Slytherin kids about their lack of attentiveness. By the end of the day, Professor McGonagall was so tired of watch her class completely ignore her, that she let us out early. I thought I deserved a day to slack off anyway; this year was the first year that I was making good grades without trying. _Without trying. _Usually, I have to at least study a little to get a passing grade. I just shrugged the thought off though.

Fred and I made our way to the library, not really expecting to get any work done, but it was better to look like you were doing something, than blatantly not doing anything. On our way, we met up with Angelina, Alicia, and George, just getting back from Herbology. I was so grateful that I didn't have to take Herbology this year. I'm god awful at it. We set our bags down on the table in the far corner of the library, the farthest away from the librarian desk. Everyone began taking our books out, opening them to random pages. I grabbed my black notebook and opened it to find that all the pages were blank.

"What the hell?" I asked, being the first one to talk. George peered over my shoulder on my left and saw what I was referring to.

"What's wrong?" Angelina asked with a confused look on her face.

"All my notes…" I began flipping through the pages randomly, looking for any shred of evidence that I ever wrote in the book at all. "All my notes are gone." Everyone looked at me like I had three heads.

"What do you mean, they're gone?" Alicia took the book out of my hands and proceeded to flip through the pages as well. "I saw you writing in this yesterday in Divinations."

"Are the pages ripped out?" Fred inquired taking his turn at flipping through the pages.

"No." I said, completely dumbfounded.

Angelina took it from Fred. "It just looks like a brand new notebook." She handed it back to me.

"I still remember everything I wrote in here though. I wrote about the unforgivable curses on this page," I said flipping to what seemed like a random page to everyone else, "and I wrote notes about different potions here. I even remember where you wrote your notes, George, the first day when we exchanged our notes."

George shook his head. "That's crazy. I couldn't even remember that much and all my pages still have writing on them."

Angelina had a peculiar look on her face, as if she was adding everything together. She extended her hand and I gave her my notebook. "Where did you get this, Amanda?"

"I found it laying on my luggage the first day I was here." I said. "It was addressed to me, but no one signed it."

Angelina turned to the first page and showed it to everyone. "That page is still intact."

"That's odd." George said passing the book back to me. "What do we make of it?"

"It's obvious isn't it?" Angelina asked with a proud smile. "Amanda still remembers everything she wrote in the book, right? What if whatever is written in the book, she automatically knows?"

My mouth was agape. "That would explain why I haven't needed to study at all to pass my tests. I already know the information!"

"Um, I think I'm going to have to borough that book." Fred said trying to take it out of my hands.

"Nuh uh!" I quickly put the book away in my bag.

"It wouldn't matter anyway," Angelina interrupted, "the book is addressed to Amanda. Even if you write in it, she'll get the information, not you."

I gave Fred a triumphant smile and stuck my tongue out at him. Suddenly a loud bell resonated through the library.

"It must be time to announce the winners!" Alicia exclaimed. We all got our books together as quickly as possible. George's hand brushed against mine on accident as he grabbed his Herbology book. It sent chills down my spine. I looked up at him and saw him looking at me as well. He cleared his through and looked away. That caught me completely off guard. It's not like we never touched each other since that night? We poke each other and lock arms sometimes. Why did this accidental touch affect me like that? I tried my best to push that thought out of my head as we made our way to the Great Hall.

We quickly sat down at our table as the last of the people trickled into the Hall. Dumbledore stood at the front, next to the Goblet. His eyes looked over the crowd and twinkled at me as his gazed past. Suddenly, he raised his wand and the lights dimmed. He gave his speech and the Goblet spit out three pieces of paper, one at a time. And one at a time, Dumbledore read the names off. Cedric Digory, Fleur Delacore, and Victor Krum. Professor Dumbledore was in the middle of his congratulatory speech when the Goblet started flaming again. Me and George exchanged a look of confusion and returned our gazes to the Goblet. All of a sudden, it spurted out another piece of paper. Dumbledore caught it and read it with confusion. The name read, "Harry Potter." There was a thick silence that followed. We all looked back at Harry, who was reluctant to stand. His friend, Hermione I think her name was, forced him up and he made his way to the front. Naturally, the Great Hall's silence was shattered by complaints and noisy arguments. Harry Potter was not even seventeen yet. But the Goblet had decided.

* * *

Fred and George were furious when we returned to the Gryffindor common room; they were making a big commotion about how if a fourteen year old boy could enter why weren't they allowed to? Me, Angelina, and Alicia took this moment to say our goodbyes and head to our dorm room. On our way up Alicia saw a new piece of paper on the bulletin board by the stairs and grabbed it. When we got to our room, Alicia shut the door behind us and grinned.

"So, this is why my mother told me that I wasn't coming home for Christmas break." She held up the piece of paper so we could see it. "The Yule Ball!"

"We're having a dance?" Angelina asked with an excited smile starting to form on her face.

Ugh. A dance? I tried my best to look as excited as they were, but my heart just wasn't in it. "When is it?"

"The last week of December." Alicia explained, reading it from the bottom of the paper.

"Is it mandatory attendance?" I asked. I didn't do so well in hiding my disgust, because Angelina and Alicia looked at me strangely.

"Do you not want to go?" Alicia asked me with a confused look. They both exchanged a look and Angelina came over and sat on my bed with me.

"It's not that," I lied, "I just don't want to go without a date. I feel like going stag just seems sad."

They laughed at me. I felt like a zoo animal.

"Please, you know George is going to ask you." Angelina said with a roll of her eyes. "And we know you're going to say yes."

I was dumbfounded. Who does she know who's going to ask me and what I'm going to say? Angelina read my facial expression and smiled at me.

"We know you like each other." She said plainly. Alicia nodded.

I felt like I was under a microscope. The heat rushed to my face. "Um, what?"

Alicia rolled her eyes and placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay to say it. We're your friends. We're not gonna go blabbing to everyone."

I looked her in the eye, then at Angelina. They seemed sincere. And they were my friends. I sighed. If I couldn't confide in them, then I couldn't confide in anyone, and that was a scary thought. Maybe it would do me some good to get it off my chest. I looked down at my hands. I blinked.

"Okay, so maybe I kind of like him. A little." I heard Angelina clear her throats and say 'a lot' under her breathe. "But, I don't know if I'm ready for anything. Or if I even should like him." I looked up at them and waited.

"Well," Angelina began, "there's no reason why you shouldn't like him. He's a great guy, and he clearly likes you. He's everything Fred is, but he's a little softer about it, and I think that would be good for you."

Alicia nodded. "I think the only reason why he hasn't told you that _he_ likes you is because he's afraid you might turn him down."

"You do kind of give him mixed signals sometimes." Angelina interjected.

I looked down at my hands again. "I just don't know if I'm ready."

"Why wouldn't you be?" Alicia asked.

"Because…" I stopped, trying not to divulge too much, "a year ago I made a hasty decision on this topic, and I've regretted it ever since. I don't want to look at George like that."

Angelina sat forward a little and hugged me. "I don't think you need to worry about it too much. Just do what your gut tells you and you'll be fine." She punctuated her sentence with a smile. I hugged her back.

"Soo," Alicia changed the subject, "when are we going dress shopping?" I couldn't help but giggle at her excited face.

* * *

**Don't forget to review. I embrace constructive criticism. Let me know what you think. **


	6. Smiling Fool

**I felt like it took my forever to write this! But its one of my favorites. enjoy!**

* * *

Ever since I confided in Angelina and Alicia about my feelings for George, we became much better friends, and I embraced my gut feeling. For the past couple of days, any time I would see George, I would give him a smile. At first, he seemed surprised by my public displays of affection, but soon he began smiling right back at me. It made me feel good. That's as simply as I can put it. George's smiles always made me feel good. They made my stomach do somersaults and my blood pressure rise.

It was the day of the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. I could almost feel the anticipation seeping through the walls. I was walking with Angelina and Alicia to the Great Hall for breakfast. It seemed Fred and George had already beaten us there, and it looked as if they had peculiar looking boxes with them. They had matching winter hats on for the frigid air that we would be meeting during the first task. I looked down at my hands and realized that their hats matched my gloves exactly. I took my spot to George's left and took the hat off his head, placing it on my own. He turned to me and looked as if he wanted to take it back, but then he seemed to change his mind. He just smiled at me.

"It looks good on you." He said with a wink.

I smiled at him. "I thought it matched my gloves pretty well." I nodded to the box on the table while I was pouring my cereal. "What's that?"

Fred poked his head around his brother. "Bets, my lady, bets."

"Its how we're going to make the money we need." George said with a mouthful of toast.

"You're going to take people's money?" Alicia asked with an incredulous look.

"Why, I never! Do you think I would do such a dishonest thing?" Fred said with mock pain in his voice.

I laughed. "So that's why you two are awake so early. Getting a jump on the game I see."

George slung his arm around my shoulder. "You don't think less of me now, do you?" He gave me a pouty face.

I laughed and flung some cereal at him.

"Hey!" He exclaimed throwing his crumby toast at me.

"Hey, hey! Flirting does not need to cause a food fight." Angelina interrupted us.

"Aw, Ang. You ruin our fun." George said, whipping his crumbs off my shoulder.

Angelina smiled at me knowingly. I blushed and looked down at my bowl.

* * *

We made our way into the stands of the arena. The word got around that the first task was dragons, and everyone was stepping up to Fred and George to place their bets on whom they thought would win or lose. I felt kind of bad for Harry as I heard most of the bets being made were that he would not succeed. I secretly hoped that he would. When the first cannon shot was fired, Fred and George stopped taking bets and took their seats with us. We sat: Alicia, me, George, Angelina, Fred, and their friend Lee. The first task was intense. I could barely stay in my seat as one after the other the Champions finished fighting their dragons. Every now and then George would whisper something in my ear about the type of dragon that was in the arena, and what their strengths and weaknesses were, considering his brother, Charlie, specialized in dragons. I was happy when Harry finished alive and barely burnt.

I stayed back with George as he cashed in the bets from the losers, and Fred went around giving money to the winners. I attempted to give him his hat back, but he refused and said, "I couldn't do an injustice like take a cute hat from a cute girl." Of course, this remark was punctuated by one of his heart melting smiles, and I blushed ridiculously. Fred came back over and we made our way back to the common room. George made a loud sigh and sat down on the common room coach I sat next to him and put my feet in his lap. Fred sat in the arm chair diagonal from us. He was looking at us with a very peculiar look in his eyes.

"What?" George and I said at the same time. We looked at each other and smiled.

"Oh, I think you know what." Fred winked at me. "I'll just leave you too _alone_ then." And with that, he left to boys' dorm. George and I looked at each other, a little confused, but we both had pink cheeks.

"Soo…" I couldn't think of anything to say, and the air around us was getting a bit awkward.

"So, did you enjoy the first task?" He asked me, pulling at the strings on my shoes.

"Really George? Small talk? That's not like you." I said with a grin. I lifted my foot and pretended to kick him in the head.

"Hey!" he exclaimed and held down both my feet. Then, he seemed to get an idea, and he gave me a devilish smile. I was frightened.

"Wha-what are you thinking George?" I stuttered.

"Oh nothing." He began pulling me by my feet off of the couch. I landed on the floor with a thud.

"What the hell? Stop!" I wiggled around in his grip. Before I could get away, he let my feet go and sat on my abdomen, each of his knees on either side of me. And before I could ask him what he was doing, he began tickling me like crazy.

"Can't breathe!" I whisper screamed it as loud as I could. My eyes started to water. He stopped abruptly, realizing how dire my need for air was. He didn't move; he just peered down at me as I gasped.

After a couple of seconds he asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I sighed out. I sat up. He was still sitting on me. He had a look of concern on his face, and it didn't go away until I smiled at him. I became aware of how close in proximity we were. I started to blush, causing him to chuckle at me.

"Am I making you nervous?" He asked me seductively. He winked at me. My eyebrows shot up and my heart beat quickened. I couldn't find my voice. He chuckled again and stood up, offering me a hand. I took it, hoping my hand wasn't too sweaty. He brought me into a hug and messed my hair up. I fought against his arms as he rubbed _his_ hat into my head.

"Hey!" I protested. He let me go and smiled as I fixed myself.

"Goodnight, Amanda." He said backing up towards the stairs.

"Goodnight." I smiled at him as he made his way upstairs to his dorm.

* * *

For the next couple of weeks, everyone was talking about the Yule Ball. I couldn't turn a corner without hearing a girl squeal or a guy talk and stutter nervously. I found it kind of… um… sick? Gross? I don't know how to put it. I just don't see the point in getting worked up over a dance that, years from now, is not going to matter in the least. However, I did accompany Angelina and Alicia dress shopping in Hogsmeade. Angelina got a very pretty red dress, with black lace covering the red. It was strapless, with a cut in the bottom that revealed her legs, and went down to her knees. Alicia got a beautiful white halter dress that reached the floor, with an open back. And, after a lot of peer pressure from the both of them, I got a staples dark blue dress. It had a black and blue lace 'poof' that began at my waist and went down to the top of my knee caps. The back was corseted. I had to admit, even if it wasn't out loud, that the dress made me feel pretty. As I stared at myself in the mirror in the Hogsmeade dress shop, I found myself wondering if George would like it…

* * *

Fred and I were walking to Transfiguration class. The corridors were pretty loud, but not loud enough to stop us from having a conversation.

"So, do your lovely friends have any dates to the Yule Ball yet?" Fred asked cautiously.

"Well Alicia is going with some Ravenclaw, I'm not sure what his name is, but she likes him. Angelina doesn't have anyone yet. Why?" I raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him. He smirked at me.

"Do you think Angelina would want to go with me? I am the more attractive twin, after all." He put his arm across his chest and tried to look heroic. I laughed at him.

"Actually, I'm sure she'd love that." I sighed rather loudly. "Then they'll both have dates and I'll be stuck going alone."

Fred chuckled. "You're kidding right?" I looked up at him, confused. He just shook his head. "Someone will ask you. You won't be alone." He winked at me. I thought that, maybe, I might have gotten his hint.

"I just home someone asks me before that freak Daniel Akosta does."

Fred and I were laughing as we entered class, right as the bell was ringing. McGonagall actually tried to make class a little more fun and interactive today. We were to practice turning a piece of string into a snake, and then turning it back again. I finished rather quickly and helped Fred out when McGonagall's back was turned. As soon as class was over, we headed to the Great Hall for study hall. Unfortunately, Snape was our Supervision. I sat to George's left, as usual. As I was getting my favorite black notebook out, I spotted Fred asking Angelina silently to the Yule Ball. Of course she accepted. I expected her to. I guess I was a little shocked that he asked her so fast. I was a little jealous. Not because she was going with Fred, but because she was going with _someone_. I wanted that. I wanted to be asked first. I became very aware of George's presence next to me as I began taking my notes.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up with an optimistic attitude. It might have had something to do with Angelina being in such a good mood—having been asked by Fred just the night before—but I tried not to think about that part. It made me want George to ask me more, which was silly. A couple weeks prior, I was saying how dances aren't something to get worked up about, and yet here I am, doing just that. I laughed at myself as we made our way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. We sat across from each other. Alicia was eating breakfast with her boyfriend from Ravenclaw. I started buttering my toast just as the twins arrived. Fred sat next to Angelina, across from me; George took his spot to my right. They looked sleepy and disheveled.

"Didn't get much sleep last night I see?" Angelina asked before I could. George just shook his head in response.

"We were too busy last night to sleep." Fred said, pouring pumpkin juice into his glass and then into a glass for George. He added two drops of something to each. George gave his brother a sleepy smile as they clanked their glasses.

"Bottoms up."George said right before he downed the whole glass.

"What was that?" I asked eyeing the both of them.

"What we've been working on all night long." Fred already sounded more awake. "It's a draft that gives continuous energy to the drinker, even if they didn't get _any_ sleep the night before." He smiled devilishly to his brother. George returned it and stretched until his back cracked. He sighed.

"I feel so much better Fred." He said and turned to me. "We have yet to name it."

"Well, it seems like it works." I said, marveling at their ingenious. Fred and Angelina were making googly-eyes at each other; George and I exchanged a look. He leaned towards me and put his lips to my ear. I got the chills.

"Grab our toast and go to class early?" He asked me, whispering.

I nodded, put a piece of toast in my mouth, and grabbed another as we walked out of the Great Hall. We took our time getting to Potions class; we didn't want to be too early. I wiped the excess toast crumbs off of my robes as we entered. We were on time, but we weren't the first ones there. Thank Merlin. We quickly took our seats and got our books out. Class was rather uneventful; Snape was having one of those days where he's too lazy to teach us, so he had us take notes out of our books. I got out my trusty black notebook and began writing. When I went to dip my quill in ink again, it slipped out of my hand and fell onto the floor. I sighed exasperatedly and bent down in my chair to get it. I could feel Snape watching me from his desk, but I tried to ignore it. I felt the notes that I had written a few seconds prior being transferred into my thoughts. I smiled knowingly to myself as I resurfaced from underneath our desk. I was confused when I realized that there were still words visible on the open page of my notebook. I put my quill down and read them just as they were disappearing into my thoughts.

_Amanda, will you go to the Ball with me? -George_

I felt the heat rise to my face as I felt the words seep into my thoughts, permanently. Why couldn't he have just asked me when we had all that extra time before class? Or after class? Questions raced through my head as I took a chance to glance his way out of the corner of my eye. He was smiling to himself as he took his notes. I smiled and went back to my notes as well. Snape was yelling at a pair of students on the other side of class for talking.

When the bell rang to end class, George and I were out of the door in a hurry. Once we were in the crowd of people, I grabbed George's hand and made him stop walking. People rushed around us in the corridor. Time stood still. I looked up into his eyes. He gave me his heart melting smile and I squeezed his hand.

"Why didn't you wait until after class to ask me?" I asked just loud enough for him to hear over everyone else. He shrugged.

"I wanted you to remember it forever. I figured doing it that way was appropriate." He stated matter-of-factly. I smiled up at him.

"Of course I'll go with you George." I said. His cheeks turned pink and he bent and kissed me on the cheek.

"I have to get to class, but I'll see you later." He whispered this in my ear and disappeared into the crowd of students.

I stood there like a smiling fool until Filch sneered at me and told me to go to class.

* * *

**Review, review, review! :D**


	7. The Yule Ball

**I absolutely enjoyed writing this chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it.**

* * *

When I awoke on the morning of the Yule Ball, I couldn't stop myself from smiling. The anticipation from the night ahead was killing me and the butterflies in my stomach felt like a swarm of wasps. It appeared that Angelina and Alicia were already awake and gossiping about the night that awaited us.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?" I asked them as I wiped sleep from my eyes.

"We tried," they said at the same time, "you just wouldn't wake."

"Oh," was all I said as I got up and made my way to the bathroom.

The first couple days of winter break were absolutely paradise. Not having to wake up early for classes, day after day, I could get used to this. Angelina reported that she and Fred were officially going out. I was happy for her, especially since things with George and I weren't awkward anymore. Not to say that they were awkward at all before, but I finally came to terms with my actual feelings. Ever since he asked me to the Ball with him, I haven't been able to get him off my mind. When, before, I used to try not to look at him, for fear that I would start blushing and he would see me. But now, I wasn't afraid to openly look at him. Whenever he was focusing on something, he would push his hair back with his left hand and knit his eyebrows together. Whenever he was bored with something, he would kick back in his chair with his arms behind his head, and simultaneously his muscles in his arms and chest would relax. When I first met him, he told me that he never realized how observant I was, and now I understand what he meant. I paid attention to the small details in a person. And, I admit, I didn't mind paying attention to _George's_ details in the least.

* * *

Alicia, Angelina, and I all put last minute details and finishing touches on our outfits as we were exiting our room. Alicia's hair was pin straight and pulled back in a high and classy ponytail. Angelina's hair was pulled back also, into a tight bun on the back of her head. My hair was left loose and fell in curls around my face. I thought it went well with the poof that started at the waist of my dress. As we walked out of the Gryffindor common room, Alicia was immediately greeted by her date. He kissed her hand in the cliché romantic way, but she loved it. She waved to us as he walked her towards the Ball.

_And then there were two._ I thought to myself.

Angelina and I walked down to the Yule Ball entrance. All the decorations were so wintery and romantic. I would have thought it was a little corny if I hadn't been so excited. We stood there waiting for a few minutes; we talked about absolutely nothing. We were just trying to pass the time. Fred arrived first. He kissed Angelina's hand just as Alicia's date had, and whisked her away into the Ball.

_And then there was one._ I thought. I knew in the back of my mind that it would turn out this way. I would end up being the last one standing. I was used to things working out this way though, so I leaned myself against the nearest wall and hummed a tune to myself. I felt a hand creep around my waist. I turned with a smile to who I expected was George. My smile faded instantly. Daniel Acosta stood so close I could feel his breathe on my nose. I pulled myself out of grasp and took a step back. I gave him an incredulous look and his grin widened. He smelled of fire whiskey.

"What is a pretty thing like yourself standing all alone for?" He asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I'm not alone. I'm—I'm waiting on my date." I said plainly. He scoffed.

"That bloke Weasley no doubt?" He asked me with a sneer. I just nodded.

"Why not forget about him and come with me instead?" He winked at me and tried to snake his arm around my waist again. I was not going to have any of this. I slapped him as hard as I could, right across the face. He brought a hand to his face and stared at me, not knowing how to respond.

"Don't you dare touch me." I said with a mouthful of acid.

"What the bloody hell is going on over here?" I looked over Acosta's shoulder and saw George jogging over to us. I pushed past the stunned and slapped Slytherin and met George half way. He gave me a concerned look and I just shook my head.

"Let's talk about it later. I'd rather not have Acosta ruin my night with you." I said putting a small smile on my lips. He smiled widely and seeming to remember something, reached into his dress robes. He took out a lovely sunflower.

"You didn't really seem like the rose type." He said still smiling at me. His hair was neater than normal, but was not formal in the least. I liked that. He looked good in dress robes, too. They fit him just right. My heart was melting. I took flower from him and put it in my hair, right by my ear.

"Thank you," I chuckled, "you're right, I'm not the rose type."

"Shall we?" He lifted his elbow to me, and I intertwined my arm in his as we walked into the Ball. We walked through the crowds of people, trying to find Fred and Angelina. George quickly stopped and spun around.

"On second thought, maybe we should leave them alone." He looked down at me and winked. I peered over his shoulder and saw what he meant. The Ball was just starting and they were already snogging in the corner. I laughed and followed George.

At the beginning, during the traditional boring dance, George and I didn't go on the dance floor. It wasn't because we didn't want to; it had more to do with the fact that we skipped every dance practice that McGonagall had issued. We didn't want to make a fool out of ourselves. But I had fun just sitting with George and making fun of the people on the dance floor that didn't know what they were doing. As we were commenting on Hagrid's dancing abilities, George reached out and took my hand. I looked at him, a little taken aback. He met my gaze and the rest of the room seemed to fade away. I felt heat rush to my face and I smiled at him. I squeezed his hand and intertwined our fingers. He didn't pull away.

While the Weird Sisters were performing, George and I were dancing and acting crazy. I had never been exposed to Wizarding music before, because my Gramps banned it from ever being in the house, but I loved it, and apparently so did George. We fought our way to the front and found Fred and Angelina there. During one of the songs, the lead singer leaned down and held my hand. My head felt light. After the performance, I needed a break. We all made our way out of the crowd and sat down at the nearest table. Fred and George went to get Angelina and I some punch. We informed each other of the night's events, and I told her that we saw her and Fred snogging. She blushed but didn't seem ashamed at all. When the twins returned, I thirstily took my cup out of George's outreached hand and drank until it was empty. I felt George put a hand on my knee and I smiled at him. I was genuinely happy that I had decided to go to the Ball with him.

Later that night, when a majority of the people that were there earlier had started trickling out one couple at a time, the slow songs began. George was a very skilled dancer; he even tipped me backwards for one of the songs and made me flush like crazy. After a short break, George took me by the hand and led me on to the dance floor. As the song began, I leaned my head against George's shoulder and dissolved into his body. I could feel the muscles in his arms and he wrapped them around me. Since he had taken off his robes earlier, he was left in a white dress shirt. I closed my eyes as the music took over my movements.

"I'm really glad that you said yes." George whispered in my ear. I sighed as his breath tickled my skin.

"I am too." I said.

After that song, we left the ball for the night, hand in hand. We walked slowly in the direction of the Gryffindor common room, taking no short cuts. It was nice walking in the dark, silent corridors with George. He made the silence peaceful. Abruptly, George stopped in the middle of the hallway and dropped my hand. I was confused. I looked up into his bright brown eyes. They were laced with bits of gold and green and honey. He gave me that heart melting smile of his. I bit the inside of my lip and looked down at my hands. I knew my cheeks were red. He lifted his left hand, and with the tip of his finger, lifted my chin to look at him again. I held my breath and blinked. I looked into his eyes again. He seemed to be studying my face.

"Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are like sapphires?" He asked with a bit of a smile in his words.

I let out the breath I was holding and smiled. He was trying to ease the tension. "No," I said, "but I suspect it would be because it sounds a bit corny."

He let out a chuckle. "Maybe corny's my style."

I reached out and held his hand. It was soft, but calloused in some places. I didn't let go when my heart beat quickened or my hands turned clammy. I looked up into his eyes with a new determination. He blushed, but still held my gaze.

"I really like you Amanda." He said plainly. He lifted his free hand and pushed my bangs out of my eyes. I blinked. Once. Twice. Three times.

"George," I smiled at him, "I like you, and I'm finally ready to accept that."

I lifted my free hand and straightened out his bow tie. He raised his hand to my face; his thumb gently stroked my cheek. I closed my eyes, and the next second, I felt his lips. They were soft and warm and sweet. I let go of his hand and brought my arms around his neck. His tongue tasted of fruit punch. His hands went to my waist.

Someone cleared their throat. It sounded like a gunshot in the silence. _Our_ silence, that no one else was supposed to be experiencing. George and I jumped and stepped a foot away from each other. Someone was standing just beyond sight, in the dark corridor. Akosta stepped out from the shadows, arms crossed, with a smug look on his face. He was silently chuckling at us. As soon as I realized who it was, I grabbed hold of George's hand.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" He stepped closer to us, looking down at our hands. "Looks like your snog fest is over." He gave me his best devilish smile.

I took a deep breath. "Akosta, why do you still feel like you have a chance with me? How many times do I have to say no before you actually understand what that word means?"

He ignored my questions and looked at George, still talking to me. "You know, I always had a hunch that I would catch you with _him_ sometime. I just still don't understand why." He sneered at George and then turned his attention back at me. His eyes were bloodshot. He was drunk.

"It's sad because, if your ego wasn't so inflated, and your attitude wasn't so shitty, I might actually think you were attractive." I kept a straight face as Akosta's face experienced a sudden wave of shock. But, just as suddenly, it was replaced with his ridiculous grin.

"My ego isn't the only thing that is inflated." He slurred and winked at me.

I didn't even know how to respond to that. I was completely disgusted. George was squeezing the hell out of my hand.

"Alright, I can't take this anymore." George said to me. He started walking away and I was happy to join him.

"Running away from your fights Weasel?" Akosta said. I could hear his ego dripping in his voice.

George turned and looked at him. "I'm not going to give you the satisfaction." I've never heard George speak that seriously before.

"You don't talk to me like that." Akosta snapped. I guess Fire Whiskey could do that to a guy, especially a guy like him. Just as George was turning back to me, Akosta clipped the side of his face with his fist. I stepped in front of George, slid my wand out, and held it to Akosta's face. I stared him in the eye, not blinking.

"Amanda, he's not worth it." George put his hand on my shoulder, holding his face with the other. "Don't do it."

I glared at Akosta. I didn't want to lower my wand. But I did. I turned my back to him. He started laughing. "Letting your girlfriend fight your battles for you, aye Weasel?"

George looked me in the eye. I sighed and nodded. He turned around and punched the idiot right in the nose. He groaned as the bone crunched.

"Geez, I didn't think you were gonna punch him that hard!" I stared at Akosta as blood trickled down his face.

"I think I broke his nose…" George said a little proud of himself, as he watched him sink to his knees.

I cracked a small smile, and looked up at George. "I think we should probably leave now…" George said. We ran to the common room.

* * *

Once we were back, it was pretty late and there were only a few people left in the common room. We sat down on the couch and I examined George's face. The bruise there was pretty dark, and George winced every time I let my finger tips graze over it.

"You don't have anything in your room that gets rid of bruises, do you?" I asked with my hand on his chin, turning his face.

"No, all we have is pain relievers, nothing to get rid of the actual bruise." He said. I dropped my hands and looked into his face, into his eyes.

"That's okay." I said with a smile. "I kind of like the whole tough-guy bruise persona that it gives you." I winked at him and he smiled devilishly.

"Do you, now?" He asked with his eyebrows raised. I nodded and leaned closer to him. He smirked at me and I closed the space between us. Our lips connected for the second time that night, but this time, no one could interrupt this moment. My hands were in his hair. His arms were wrapped around my waist. Our tongues were best friends. I smiled against his lips. Everything about this felt right.

* * *

**Ooooo. Things are heating up. Review! Give me some ideas for future chapters? Pretty please? :D**


	8. The Day After

**I felt like this chapter took forever to write. Enjoy!**

* * *

_Thud-thump, thud-thump, thud-thump._

As I woke, I was slowly becoming aware of this slow incessant vibration in my ears. I was too tired and sleepy to muster up enough energy to open my eyes and assess my surroundings, but one thing was for sure; I definitely wasn't in my four poster bed in the girls' dorm. The muscles in my body began to awake. I shifted slightly and realize that I was lying on top of a body. My eyes shot open and all the memories from the night before came swarming back into my mind. I was lying on top of George Weasley on the common room couch. We were both still dressed in our Yule Ball attire. His dress robes were draped over us in a mock-blanket fashion. My head was resting on his chest and I continued to listen to the relaxing beat of his heart. I felt that our legs were intertwined, with mine in between his; because his legs were so long one of them was off of the couch, foot resting on the floor. I lifted myself somewhat to look up at him and I realized his hand was resting on the small of my back. His head was slightly turned to the left, supported by the arm of the couch. His hair was messy and his lips were parted just a tad. His expression was so content and happy; it made me smile. I saw his eyes shift under his eyelids and then felt his body tense up and relax. He shifted under my weight and lifted his arms, stretching. He seemed to become aware of where he was and opened his eyes. He grinned sleepily at me. I smiled, lifting myself up into a sitting position. I was settled on his lap, my legs on either side of him. He lifted himself up as well, yawning. I placed a hand on the side of his face, taking in his appearance. I caressed his bruise and then pushed my fingers through his hair, letting out a small sleepy laugh.

"You're kind of a mess." I said in a bemused voice. His lips formed a smile. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"I'm not sure that you look much better, my dear." He grinned, telling me that he was joking, but I knew there was some truth to his statement. I could only image how knotted my hair was and how much mascara was smudged on my face. I looked down at myself, at my dress.

"I guess I need a shower, huh?" I yawned and stared into his brilliant eyes. He leaned forward, kissing my cheek lightly. As he pulled away his lips brushed mine and I felt my face grow hot. I looked at him; the tips of his ears were red.

"Why don't you go get cleaned up, and then meet Fred and I in our dorm." He blinked, hiding his bright eyes for a split second before they opened again.

"Okay." I agreed and began to get up.

"Oh, and bring Angelina with you. I'm sure Fred would enjoy her company." He winked at me and I told him that I would. As I walking up the stairs to the dorm, some girls walked out and gave me a peculiar look. I chuckled to myself. They must think I had a more _eventful_ night than I actually did.

When I got into my room, I tried to be as quiet as possible. But, as I was opening the bathroom door to start the shower, Angelina stirred and opened her bed curtain. Once she realized who I was, she grinned at me slyly. I quickly shook my head.

"No, we didn't." I said before she could spew words through her open mouth. "Now, get ready. Fred and George want us to be ready soon." And with that I closed myself in the bathroom.

Once we were both showered, we shared our stories of the night before while we dressed. I explained to her everything that happened during the dance and about Acosta's interruption in the corridor. She seemed to listen extra intently when I told her about our intense snog fest last night on the common room couch.

"It was the bruise wasn't it?" She asked rummaging through her wardrobe.

"What?" I asked, a little confused on what she was referring to. She grinned at me in a suggestive way.

"That's why you and George were so intense last night. His battle wounds turn you on." She said. I must have turned extra red because she just smiled and nodded, going back to her clothes. She told me about her event with Fred the night before, about how up front he was about his feelings straight away. I nodded, remembering finding them in the corner, right at the beginning of the dance. As she was explaining her night, I couldn't help but note the differences between Fred and George. George was only dully implying his feelings for me, he didn't out right say it like Fred did. And from the way Angelina was _describing_ her experiences, it seemed that Fred was more aggressive while George was more sensual. I thought Fred and Angelina made a good pairing.

I looked myself over in the mirror. I left my hair long and wavy and natural. I had a pair of dark wash tight jeans on with snow boots. I quickly threw my favorite knit sweater on and grabbed George's hat that he had given to me. Angelina told me to go on ahead to their dorm because she was taking far too long to get ready. I told her that we would wait for her, grabbed my wand, and headed down the hallway. When I reached the twins' dorm, the door was ajar. I knocked but there was no response. I pushed on it with my finger tips and it opened wider. I stepped in and looked around. There were clothes on the floor and posters on the walls, but no one was there. I walked to what I knew was George's bed. It was still made from the night before last. I smiled remembering the common room couch. Then, out of know where, the bathroom door swung open and steam billowed out like dry ice.

"Fred, do you know what I did with my purple button-up?" George asked the absent Fred as he walked out of the bathroom, towel drying his hair. I sucked in air and tried not to blush too much. George was clothes from the waist down, a pair of brown corduroy pants with his boxers showing at the hem, but his chest was bare. I could see every line of lean muscle on him. I bit the inside of my lip. George brought the towel down and realized that I was there, and Fred was nowhere to be found. His cheeks were still tinted pink from the heat of his shower, and he added to it by blushing at my presence. He grinned at me and winked.

"Am I making you nervous?" He lifted his eyebrows suggestively and walked closer until we were an arm length apart. I decided to play along with his charade. I fanned myself with my hand and fluttered my eyelashes. I couldn't help but notice a drip of water running down his bruised cheek, down his jaw line, down his neck…

"Why yes, Mister Weasley. You've got me all flustered." I winked at him. "I just don't know if I can handle it." George laughed and grinned.

"My dear, Miss Brighte, embrace the butterflies." He said locking his eyes with mine. "They could be a good thing…"

The mood suddenly changed. He took a step forward and cupped my face in his hands. I lifted my hands to his wrists and held them. His face was slowly closing the space between us. Closer… closer… closer…

"Hmm-HMM!" Someone cleared their throat from the doorway. We both looked towards the door, but didn't move an inch. Fred was standing in there, arms crossed, and leaning against the doorway. Angelina and Lee Jordan were standing behind him. Angelina had a huge smile on her face at the sight of us.

"Put a shirt on George," Fred said with a smirk on his face, "you can snog when we get to Hogsmeade."

George winked at me, dropped his hands from my face, and walked toward his wardrobe. Fred and Angelina entered the room hand in hand closely followed by Lee. He flopped down on his bed and wished us a good time in Hogsmeade. We were leaving just as George found the shirt he was looking for. I grabbed his coat and gloves and used my wand to dry his hair for him. When George was fully dressed, he reached from my hand. We were lagging a little behind Fred and Angelina.

"So, why are we going to Hogsmeade?" I asked, swinging our hands in the cold winter air.

"To buy Christmas presents, of course." George answered, giving me a wide grin. "You do know that Christmas is in a couple days, right?" I was completely dumbfounded. Of course I knew Christmas was coming up, we were on _Christmas_ Holiday. But, I wasn't too concerned with it to remember.

"I guess it must have slipped my mind." I said giving him a small smile. I quickly looked down at my feet. "We never… we never really celebrated Christmas back at home." I said. I could feel his gaze on me as we walked through the snow. I looked up; ahead of us Fred and Angelina were laughing and smiling at each other a lot.

"What?" George stopped walking and looked me in the eye. "Why not?" I felt kind of uncomfortable; I didn't like talking about my family back in the states.

"Eh… my parents gave me away, and my Gramps kind of hated me... So no one really cared enough to celebrate it." I blinked. The face he had was so surprised; you would have thought that I had just told him I was part centaur. He shook his head ever so slightly and then smiled widely at me.

"Well, you're celebrating it this year!" He exclaimed, letting his eyebrows relax back into place. He slipped his hand out of mine and swung his arm around my shoulders. We began walking again. I was staring down at our feet when all of a sudden, I had an idea.

"Are we outside of the Hogwarts grounds?" I asked smiling at him, glad to change the subject.

"Yeah, I reckon. Why?"

"Because we can Apparate when we're outside of the grounds." My smile got wider. He didn't seem to understand.

"Yeah, but we don't learn to Apparate until February." He said looking at me with a question in his eyes. I shook my head.

"George, haven't I told you? You learn to Apparate in the states in your 5th year." I looked at him; he didn't seem to connect the dots. "George, I can Apparate." His jaw dropped and he gave me a devilish grin.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" He stopped walking and out stretch his hand. I grinned at him.

"I claim no responsibility if you get splinched or start throwing up uncontrollably." He laughed at my words, but nodded. I grabbed his hand and we Dissaparated on the spot.

We reappeared outside the Three Broom Sticks. I held George up because he didn't land on his feet. Luckily, he had all of his limbs, but his face was green and he looked like he was ready to get sick. I quickly lead him around the side of the building and he heaved into the snow. I rubbed his back and looked away as he continued. When he was through, he stood and turned to me.

"Are you okay?" I asked, worried. He turned slowly towards me. He stared me in the face.

"That was bloody brilliant!" He yelled. "We need to do that more often!" I laughed, letting relief wash over me. We walked in the Three Broom Sticks and sat in the booth at the far end of the room. The dimly lit corner that we had chosen was rather homey and comfortable. Madam Rosmerta brought us two Butter Beers, and I took the warm mug in my cold hands. After a couple minutes of silence and slurping, I turned and smiled at George.

"So, if we're here to buy Christmas presents, what do you want for Christmas, Georgie?" My question seemed to catch him off guard. He put down his mug and pondered, stroking his invisible beard. I couldn't stop myself from giggling slightly.

"I don't really know. Anything I guess." He shrugged and took another sip of his drink. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, come on. You have to give me something more to go on than that." I smiled at him once more.

"You don't need to get me anything Amanda." His voice echoed in the bottom of his now empty mug. I reached out and took his hand in mine.

"But I want to." We stared into each other's eyes until he blinked and looked at our hands.

"Well, in that case," he looked up at me with a toothy grin, "what do you want for Christmas, my dear?" I leaned forward and gave him a small kiss.

"Anything you give me, I'll love."

* * *

George and I spent all afternoon walking around Hogsmeade looking for gifts. I helped George search out certain items that he needed to get for his plethora of family members. We split up in every store; we covered more ground that way. When we were in the only jewelry story in Hogsmeade, we separated, looking for a certain broach that he knew his mother secretly wanted. When I found it, I met him at the checkout counter, and out of the corner of my eye I could have sworn that I saw him slip something into his pocket. I decided that I was imagining it.

When we exited the store, I knew what I was getting George for Christmas. I saw a peddler on the other side of the road offering to take pictures of people for a fee. I smiled at myself. That was it. I dragged George over to the man and we set all of our bags on the snow covered ground. I paid the wizard and he captured us smiling and I snuck a kiss on George's cheek just as the man finished. He gave me the photograph and wished us a pleasant day. As George headed to Honeydukes and Zonko's I went the opposite direction to this cute little trinket shop. I told George that I was going to get a gift for Angelina, which was partly true, but I was also shopping for him. I found a little jewelry box for Angelina, and I got a perfect picture frame for the picture of George and I. It was gold, and plain in a rustic way, but with a tap of my wand, it held our names across the top. Before I left the shop, I boxed everything up and headed to meet George.

* * *

Fred, George, Angelina, and I all returned to the Gryffindor common room with rosy cheeks and cold hands. Angelina offered to take our bags up to our room, and I gladly complied, plopping myself down in the nearest arm chair by the bookshelves. Before George got a chance, Fred slyly dropped all of his many boxes and bags on top of George's pile and ran to the common room couch, colliding with the pillows head first.

"Good luck with that, mate!" Fred called over his shoulder. He caught my eye and winked. I smiled and shook my head. I caught George give his brother a devilish look then bound upstairs. I laughed at the childish ways of my friends.

"So, Amanda," Fred lifted himself to look at me over the back of the couch. He made his eyebrows bounce suggestively, "is George any good?"

I couldn't help but laugh. I rolled my eyes and said, "You of all people should know what we've done." He shook his head.

"George doesn't share any, uh,_ intimate_ details." He winked. I cracked a smile. He obviously thought what Angelina thought this morning. Why not play along? I stretched and snuggled deeper into the chair.

"Oh, well he's brilliant. He _certainly_ has a way with his hands, let me tell you." I had to suppress my humor as I watch Fred's face turn from intrigued to mortified. Just then, George came walking down the stairs with his left arm carefully held behind him. He saw the look on his brother's face and turned to me.

"What's going on here?" He asked, giving me a peculiar look. I winked at him, sending him a message to play along.

"Oh, nothing. Fred just had some questions about our love life. I was filling him in." I said, staring into George's eye. I saw him stifle a smile and turn to his brother with a straight face.

"Mate, why didn't you just ask me?" He smiled at his twin. "I would have given you _all _the details." Fred sank down on the other side of the couch and I cracked a huge grin at George. He was way too good with his words.

"Oi, Fred. This is for you!" All in one instant, George grabbed my hand, lifted me out of the chair, and threw a dung bomb in his brother's direction. We ran up the stairs to the boys' dorm just as the bomb made landfall. We closed the door behind us, laughing hysterically and receiving weird looks from Lee.

* * *

**Review! Give me some inspiration, tell me what you like about the chapter, tell me what you don't like. :]**


	9. A Yellowed Envelope

**This chapter was almost hard for me to write. Hope you enjoy :]**

* * *

I awoke early on Christmas morning to the loud tearing of wrapping paper. I moved aside the curtains on my four poster bed. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Angelina was sitting on the floor with Alicia opening her many gifts from family and friends. My face fell. I didn't expect to receive any presents this morning. I was about to close the curtain when Angelina spotted me and smiled.

"You have some too you know." She smiled at me and nodded her head to the foot of my bed. I tried to prevent my eyebrows from shooting up. I quickly lifted myself up and sat on the floor next to the little pile of gifts. Angelina's pile was bigger than mine, of course; she had family to send her things. But, I had never received presents for Christmas before. I couldn't be happier and I couldn't stop myself from smiling. I giggled to myself as I teared open the paper on the two biggest boxes. I thanked Angelina and Alicia immediately for their gifts. Ang got me an incredibly soft fleece scarf, the exact color of my eyes. Alicia got me a new knit sweater (knowing how much I love them). It matched the new scarf. They must have planned it.

I then moved onto a book-sized box. I opened it; there was a book inside. I rolled my eyes. The title read, "The notes of a Mad-Man," but someone crossed out the word "Man" and wrote "Lady." I laughed and opened the book; other than the inside front cover, the pages were blank. The only words written on the inside read:

"_In the hopes that when you take notes,_ I _will learn something. ~ Fred Weasley"_

"Fred got me yet another notebook?" I said amused. Angelina nodded.

"He said he couldn't think of anything to get you, and he knows how much you like taking notes." She shrugged and smiled. I just shook my head. The last gift that was left was a Christmas stocking with my name knitted on it. It was also blue. I was sensing a trend here. I smiled as I tipped it upside-down. A bunch of my favorite chocolates came tumbling out. I smiled widely as a tiny box fell out as well. I picked up the box and turned it over in my fingers. It was no bigger than the palm of my hand. I gently took the wrapping paper off of it. My breath caught in my throat. I slowly opened the box. I felt Angelina and Alicia staring at me. It was a ring; a very simple ring, with a very simple silver band. It had one jewel in it… a _sapphire_. I let my breath out. I turned the ring over in my fingers. It had an engraving on the inside… _Sunflower._ I started laughing. I couldn't help it. All of the memories from the Yule Ball came back to me with that one word.

"I didn't know George was a romantic." Alicia said, inching closer to me as I slid the ring on my finger. She took my hand and examined the stone. I felt myself blush. Angelina raised an eyebrow at me.

"So, are you two an item now? Why wasn't I told?" She accused. I shook my head still smiling.

"Because I didn't know myself…" I let my words trail off.

* * *

It was the first day back to classes after Christmas Holiday. George and I walked hand in hand to breakfast. Fred was walking behind us, casually stepping on the back of George's heals. Acosta gawked at us as we entered the Great Hall. I saw him out of the corner of my eye and propped myself up, kissing George on the cheek. He quickly looked away. George's bruise was faded almost completely now. Acosta wasn't so lucky. When he went to Madam Pomfrey about his broken nose, she fixed it of course. But, she left his black eyes there as a reminder to not go looking for trouble. He scoffed at her, but still left the infirmary with two black eyes. Apparently, black eyes don't fade as fast as regular bruises do.

Once we reached our table, I began pilling food onto my plate. George put his arm around my shoulders. I scooted closer to him and put a forkful of pancakes in my mouth. Alicia sat down next to me and Angelina sat across from us, right next to Fred.

"Good morning." Alicia said, buttering a piece of toast. She eyed George's arm around me and I rolled my eyes. Clearly she wasn't used to the sight of us yet. I swallowed and smiled at her.

"Good morning." I said, eating more. She smiled back at me. I saw Fred discreetly send an order form for _Weasley Wizard Weezes_ down the table. I cleared my throat.

"So how is the old business coming along?" I asked, inclining my head up at George and peering at Fred.

"Brilliant, actually." George said with a smile.

"Yeah, it's going quite well," Fred winked at me, "But—"

"But we do need a new guinea pig." George finished, peering down at me. I ate some more pancakes and shook my head.

"What do you say?" Fred asked.

"No way," I stated, "Ask Ang." I inclined my head in her direction.

"Ask me?" She said, confused. "No way Fred. I like you, but not enough to do _that._" We all started laughing at her remark.

"Uh oh, looks like McGonagall is heading this way." Alicia said with a whisper of a grin still on her face.

"What did you two do now?" I asked playfully poking George's side with my elbow.

"Miss Brighte." McGonagall's voice was right behind us. I looked up at her and George took his arm back, looking at her as well. She looked us over and, was that a smile on her lips?

"I'm going to have to ask that you follow me, the Headmaster wants to see you."

"Uh, sure, of course." I turned to George and he gave me a reassuring look. I took one last bite of my pancakes and got up, following her out of the Great Hall.

I didn't know if I should have been worried or not. I mean, it can't be a good thing that you get called to the Headmaster's office the first day back from break. Maybe he found out about what happened during the Yule Ball, with Acosta. But, then why wasn't George called too? I had no idea. My stomach growled. I wished I brought the pancakes with me. I bit the inside of my lip and intertwined my fingers with each other. We reached the statue. McGonagall spoke the password and gave me a reassuring smile.

"I'm sure there is nothing to worry about," She spoke with sweet words, "Good luck."

I nodded to her and sucked in a breath as I took the first steps. Once I reach the giant door that lead into Dumbledore's office I knocked.

"Come in," said a muffled voice from within. I creaked the door open and stepped inside. I'd only ever been here once before, on my first day. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk. His eyes gleamed at me and he motioned for me to sit in the chair in front of him. I did so. He cleared his throat and straightened a quill on his desk.

"Ah, Miss Brighte, you are fitting in well at Hogwarts I see?" He smiled at me. I nodded.

"Professor, please call me Amanda." I said, growing more comfortable in the room as the seconds passed.

"Of course," he said. He blinked once, twice. "I see that you've made some good friends within the Gryffindor house." I looked down at my hands in my lap.

"Yeah, I have…" I bit my lip again. He chuckled and I looked up at him.

"And, might one be a little more than a friend?" His eyes twinkled as they passed over the ring on my finger. My face flushed and all I could do was smile at him.

"I confess, I might have a soft spot in my heart for jokesters also," he winked at me and smiled genuinely, "however, I did not summon you here to talk about your love life." He redirected his attention to one of the drawers in his desk. He opened it and took out a yellowed and crumpled envelope. He handed it to me and I took it curiously. It was covered in stamps from the United States and Europe. I turned it over in my hands; there was no return address on it. It was addressed to me, in very sloppy hand writing. It appeared to be written in a muggle pencil. The seal was already broken. I looked up to Dumbledore with questions in my eyes.

"I hope you do not reprimand me for looking into your mail, Amanda. Curiosity gets the best of us all, especially when it is clearly muggle mail. In fact, it came by my presence in a very peculiar way. A friend of mine just happened to be in the streets of London and—" Dumbledore noticed that my attention was elsewhere; I was staring down at the envelope, dreading opening it. "Well, the story doesn't matter. Open it." It wasn't a harsh command, but I felt like I would have sat there forever staring at it if he hadn't said it.

I slowly slid my hand into the delicate envelope and pulled out and even more delicate piece of paper—it wasn't parchment. I unfolded it. I let my eyes run over the words on the page.

"_Granddad is dead. Died yesterday. Thought you should know._"

My eyes kept scanning the page, looking for more of an explanation. There wasn't one… _Granddad_… There was only one person that called him that. _My father._ The thought made my heart sink in my chest. No. I had no father. I had no family. And now, I had nowhere to even remotely or reluctantly call home. Gramps was dead. Dead. I felt emotionless. I would not cry over someone who hated me so.

Dumbeldore felt the tension rise as my hands shook with the crumpled paper. My eyes were still fixed on the words.

"From the dates marked on the many stamps in the corner of the envelope, we can assume that this was sent out in the mail about a month ago." His words brought me out of my stupor. I slowly folded the piece of paper back up, put it in its proper place, and set the retched envelope down on Dumbledore's desk. I looked up at him. All emotion was gone from my face. My eyes were hollow. I saw sympathy etched in the wrinkles on his face.

"A month ago." I said, letting the details sink in. Gramps died a month ago.

"I sincerely apologize for your loss." He said these words slowly and delicately, like the paper. I know Dumbledore meant well by them, but they just made me angry. My eyebrows narrowed as I remembered my surroundings.

"Do _not_ feel sorry for me. It is _not_ my loss." I snapped. Dumbledore was not fazed in the slightest at my outburst. He smiled at me.

"Feel free to take it with you," he nodded towards the wrinkled envelope, "it is, after all, yours." I shook my head. It was all too much. I stood on the spot.

"I don't want it." I narrowed my eyes at the yellowed paper. I took a deep breath and looked into Dumbledore's eyes. "I'm sorry Professor." And with that, I left his office.

* * *

As I reached the bottom of the staircase, as I entered the empty corridor, a bell resonated threw the castle. The bell announced the end of first class, the end of Potions. Good. I wasn't in the mood for Snape today anyway. All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and lay there, motionless. Students began to surround me, finding their next classes and their friends. I just stood there, getting jostled around by random people. I felt empty. People, everywhere around me, were looking at me strange. I imagine my face looked pained. I didn't care enough to hide it. I saw a familiar set of red heads in my peripheral vision and immediately turned my head towards them. George looked my way and caught my eye. The laugh that graced his expression was replaced by worry. Our eyes locked and the only thought that mattered at that moment was getting to him. My feet were no longer rooted as I pushed my way through the crowd. As soon as I was close enough, I wrapped my arms around his torso, burying my head against the nape of his neck. His arms went around me. I squeezed my eyes shut. I refused to cry. After a couple of seconds, George broke our silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He whispered this in my ear. I took a deep breath and pulled away from him. I saw Fred standing next to him, a look of concern on his face as well. The crowd in the corridor was diminishing. I bit my lip and nodded my head. I looked into George's eyes and he smiled reassuringly at me. He turned to his brother.

"Cover me for me, aye?" His voice was smooth. It made me feel not-so-empty. Fred winked at him and nodded at me with a small smile. I smiled back and George led me to the nearest secret passage way to the Gryffindor common room. I felt better with his arm around me.

When we got back to the common room it was deserted. We sat down on the couch, just looking at each other. George was clearly concerned. I told him everything. I told him about the envelope and about the death of Gramps. I told him how aggravated I was at the fact that I wanted to shed tears for the man. I wanted to _cry_ over the death of someone who hated me. It didn't make any sense. He leaned forward and clasped my hands in his.

"You know, it's okay if you want to cry. No matter how much hatred he felt for you, he was still family." I found myself studying his eyes. They were more of a honey-caramel color today than green. They were so perfect. I let a single tear slip from the corner of my eye and quickly took a hand away from him to swat at it.

"He doesn't deserve to be considered my family." I stammered. "None of them do. They treated me like trash, like a freak. Gramps treated me more like a pet than anything else. Hell, I'm surprised he didn't make me attend muggle school." I went to wipe another tear that escaped my eye, but George caught my hand, not letting me.

"You know," he cracked a small smirk at me, "you're awfully cute when you cry." I let out an awkward half sob half laugh and quickly closed my mouth. The heat rushed to my cheeks as I looked into his eyes again. He was fully smiling now.

"I'm serious. Your eyes look like they're glowing." It was cute how he was trying to change the subject for me. I shook my head.

"George, I don't know what to do. I don't know how I should _feel_." I leaned forward and let my forehead rest against his shoulder. His arms wrapped around me. George let out a sigh.

"Family is a big part of my life. I would do literally anything for them." He paused. "If it were me, I would probably be balling my eyes out right now." I don't know why, but that made me giggle slightly. George pulled me away from him and looked at me. He had a mock-hurt face on. I smiled.

"What? You don't believe that I, George Weasley, am capable of balling my eyes out?" He put a hand over his heart playfully. I laughed again.

"I couldn't imagine seeing you cry, George." I said as another tear escaped my eyes. That was three. He gave me a grin and brought me into a tight hug.

"I would not be ashamed to cry over the loss of a family member, even if they were scum." He kissed the top of my head and let me go. I gave him a sad smile.

"Thank you." I said, eyeing his lips. I leaned forward and kissed him. His lips were soft and sweet. I leaned my forehead against his and sighed. I looked down at the ring on my finger, at the sapphire stone that it held. I blinked, once, twice. I looked up at him, grabbed his hand, and began leading him up to his dorm. By the time we reached his four poster bed, our lips had met again, and my hands were tangled in his rich, ginger hair. The picture of us, smiling in the snow in Hogsmeade, sat on his nightstand.

* * *

**Please reviewww! Your reviews are what keep me wanting to write :] Give me some suggestions of what you think should happen?**


	10. A Change in the Seasons

**I had so much fun writing this chapter. I didn't realize that there was so much kissing in it until after I reread it before publishing. But, I'm sure you guys wont mind ;]**

**Remember to review!**

* * *

George was sitting on top of me. I leaned my head against the head board of his bed as he gently trailed kisses from my lips to my jaw line. I let out a sigh and ran my hands over his bare chest, listening to the muffled sounds of doors opening and closing. Wait, doors? My eyes shot open and I pushed on his chest. He stopped and looked at me, obviously seeing the change in my mood.

"What's wrong, love?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Doors." I said. I could hear the shuffling of people out in the hall. "I can hear doors closing. It must be lunchtime." He caught my hint and nodded. He smiled at me and reached for his shirt on the floor. I got up and assessed myself in the bathroom mirror. I don't think he wanted his brother to walk in on us as much as I didn't. That would be, um, very embarrassing. Not that I was ashamed of George, I just didn't want his twin brother to know the _legitimate_ details of our intimacy. Now, that didn't mean that I wouldn't feed him false details. I did that frequently.

After brushing my fingers through my hair, I adjusted my tie and attempted to wipe the wrinkles from my shirt. George walked into the bathroom and made a face at himself in the mirror.

"Blimey, is that what I look like after snogging you?" He raised an eyebrow at his hair and then looked at me in the mirror. I just shrugged. He turned and smiled at me. I looked into his eyes; they were one of my favorite things about him. I began helping him with his tie as he finished buttoning his shirt. Suddenly, the door to his room opened and Fred walked in followed by Lee Jordan. They immediately assessed the unruly bed that was George's and turned to us in the bathroom. George grinned at his brother.

"How's it going, mate?" He asked still grinning. Lee turned back to the bed, than back to George, and winked at him. Fred rolled his eyes with a wide smile.

"What, have you two been in here all morning?" Lee asked eyeing George's hair. I quickly took out my wand and made each strand lay as it should.

"No, not all morning." I said, exiting the bathroom with George at my heals.

"But a good portion of it." George added, winking at Lee. He bent down and picked up a few Weasley Wizard Weezes order forms and tucked them in his robes, putting those on as well. Fred came up behind me and put an arm around my shoulders.

"Well, I hope it was worth my covering up for you two, am I right?" He asked, eyeing my expression. I knew what he was really asking. He had a hint of concern in his eyes, that he was clearly hiding from Lee, not knowing whether to reveal it to him or not. I nodded and smiled.

"Yes, of course it was." I said and quietly whispered so only he could hear, "I'm fine, really." He nodded slightly and took his arm away. We all gathered our things and headed down to the Great Hall for lunch, with George placing my hand in his.

* * *

We attended our afternoon classes like normal, and I agreed to help George with the classes that he missed for me. I was the luckiest girl I knew. To have a guy like that, that would just drop everything to make sure I was okay, it was an incredible feeling. I wasn't sure what our title was. As the months passed, we never once referred to each other as "boyfriend" or "girlfriend;" we were just George and Amanda, and us holding hands and kissing in public became the norm. No one questioned it, not even Acosta; although, it didn't deter him from me in the least. It seemed to only challenge him more. I tried to ignore him every chance I got.

Fred and George made a killing at the second Triwizard Task. No one doubted Harry Potter's abilities anymore and everyone poured their money into him. Luckily for the twins, and unfortunately for the betters, Cedric was announced the winner. I've got to say, it was rewarding seeing them that happy over something, even if it was over gambling money.

When Fred and George began their lessons on Apparation, I volunteered to help out anyone that needed it along side McGonagall. Since I had learned how to Apparate the previous year, Dumbledore granted my request. It was strangely entertaining to watch my friends learn. Many times, McGonagall instructed me to keep an eye on Fred and George, since they were _very_ eager to get it over with. Fred splinched himself once and I had to help him put himself back together, all the while laughing at him.

"Now I don't have to depend on you to get me to Hogsmeade." George whispered to me one day after their lessons. I smirked at him.

"I bet I could Apparate faster than you any day." He took my sentence as a bet. We shook on it. We never did agree on the terms, but Fred was our reluctant witness to the event.

Soon enough, it was already March. There was still some slushy snow on the ground, but the grass was clearly dominating the landscape. The air smelt fresh and warm, like a freshly mowed lawn right after a summer shower. The sun was shining and bright; it hurt your eyes to even incline you head to the sky. I looked longingly to the window in the Divination classroom. It was shrouded by a pink shall, preventing sunlight from entering. The room was bathed in the aroma and smoke incents. I sighed and rested my head in the palm of my hand. I wanted so badly to be out in the sunshine. Alicia (who was sitting next to me at our round table) kneed me and brought me out of my daydreams. I turned and gave her a glum smile as Professor Trelawney came over to us, inspecting our tarot cards.

"Finally!" I yelled as Alicia and I emerged from the suffocating room that was Divination Class. She giggled and elbowed my side. We quickly ran down the stairs and headed to the Great Hall. I didn't stop when Angelina met up with us on our way. I kept a steady pace, not caring that they began lagging behind. I was determined to get a bit of sunshine before the sun set. I quickly entered the Great Hall and practically ran to the table. I slid down the bench and bumped into George, piling food onto the plate in front of me. He felt me and gave me an amused smile.

"In a hurry, are we?" He asked with a laugh in his voice. I nodded and stuff food in my mouth.

"I'll be damned if I miss out on the sunshine today." I quickly put more food in my mouth, not really tasting it. Fred looked around his brother and grinned at me just as Alicia and Angelina were approaching.

"Blimey, if you keep eating like that you'll give yourself a stomach ache!" Angelina scolded as she took her seat across from us, Alicia next to her. I ignored the statement and ate more.

"You should probably slow down." Fred added with an eyebrow raised. I just looked at him in response. I swallowed the last bite and put my fork down.

"Alright, I'm heading out." I said. I smiled at George's agape mouth and pushed my right hand through his hair. I looked around at everyone else. "You guys are welcome to join me." And with that I turned and fast-walked out of the Hall. George turned to back to the girls with confusion written on his face. Alicia shook her head.

"She was staring at the covered window in Divination the whole class. Didn't pay attention once." She said. Fred stared down at his plate.

"I didn't know she could eat that much that fast." He said. George chuckled and took another bite from his plate, gathering his things.

"I guess I'm going out there after her." He said, punching his brother in the arm and waltzing out. After he had exited the Hall, Angelina leaned forward.

"You know we're not going to go out there and interrupt them, right?" She asked, eyeing Fred. He smirked.

"I don't plan on walking in on my brother any time soon."

* * *

I found myself the sunniest and driest spot of grass that I could and sprawled out on the ground. Unfortunately, the sun was beginning to set, but the breeze that rustled the trees wiped through my hair and made me smile. I eyed the slush of snow still present on different parts of the ground. It was a weird thought, that it could feel so much like spring and yet there was still snow on the ground. I tossed my bag to the side and threw my robes off, rolling the sleeves of my collared shirt up. It was a little nippy, but I loved it. I layed back in the warm sunset and closed my eyes, feeling another lovely wind lift my hair ever-so-slightly off the ground. I smiled contently and began hearing sloshing footsteps come toward me.

I cracked one of my eyes open and saw a tall, lanky red head approaching. It was amazing that I could tell it was George from this angle. I closed my eye again and took a deep breath, savoring the fresh air. He tossed his bag down near where mine was and threw his robes so they landed on top of my face. He sat next to me, chuckling as I groaned and tossed them off of me. I pushed them aside and smiled up at him. He took off his tie and set his elbows on his knees, seeming to look at the horizon on the lake. I sat up, propping myself up with one hand and placed the other on the left side of his face, turning him to look at me. He smiled sweetly at me and I pecked a kiss on his lips. As I pulled away he leaned forward and kissed me again. And again. And again. Pausing to take a breath between each kiss, and each time, the kiss lasted longer. I slid my hand down from his cheek, down his jaw line, to his neck. I gripped the collar of his shirt and sighed against his lips. I felt him place a hand on my hip, tracing little circles with his thumb. I pressed my lips against his one more time, making the moment count. We pulled away and I watched the setting sun light dance across his face. He smiled at me, quickly turning it into a smirk.

"Just can't wait to take my clothes off, aye?" He asked raising an eyebrow at me. I realized my hand was still holding the collar of his shirt and let it go, heat raising to my face. I rolled my eyes and shifted my weight, sitting up straighter.

"George, you should know that if you seduce me like that, I'm going to want to take your clothes off." I gave him a sideways glance, a smile on playing on my lips. He still held his smirk and winked at me.

"You love it." He said playfully, placing his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer.

"I know." I replied, resting my head on his shoulder. The sky was fading to deep reds and purples. I put my hand on his knee, and he took it in his. He played with the ring on my finger.

"You know, I didn't really expect you to wear this. I kind of made it a joke." He said, eyeing my lovely Christmas present. I laughed a little.

"Why wouldn't I? You know I like your jokes." I said playfully elbowing him. I felt him shrug.

"Dunno." He paused. "I guess I was afraid that you wouldn't take it as seriously as I wanted you to." His voice got softer as he finished his sentence. I lifted my head off his shoulder and looked at him. I could tell he wasn't particularly comfortable with this topic. He kept looking at the ring, not meeting my gaze.

"George," I insisted. He returned my gaze; I could almost feel the heat on his face. "I adore your sense of humor, you know that, but I can tell when you're being serious." I leaned forward and kissed him. "I don't see a joke when I look at this ring," I wiggled my ring finger in his hand, "I see the Yule Ball. I see our first kiss." As I talked my cheeks reddened, but my eyes never left his. He gave me a crooked smile and I counted how many times he blinked. The sun was getting lower in the sky, with the moon high above our heads. He chuckled.

"Damn," he leaned back and layed in the grass, "your eyes are like sapphires." He lifted my hand next to my face, comparing the stone to my eyes. I laughed, imagining my face lighting on fire. I leaned down and kissed him.

"That's corny." I said against his lips. The sun showered us with its last beams of light as another breeze blew by.

* * *

**Aren't they sweet? Review! Your reviews keep me going.**

**Also! Tell me if you notice any spelling or grammar errors, because they annpy me to no end if I make them.**


End file.
